


Within Our Weary Souls~

by MA_XT



Series: Monsta X x NCT [2]
Category: Monsta X (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Character Death, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Gun Violence, Illnesses, M/M, Medical Procedures, Multi, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Past Child Abuse, Power Imbalance, Starvation, Violence, Virus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:13:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28217520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MA_XT/pseuds/MA_XT
Summary: Their world is cruel and callous, no room for humanity to thrive unless they conformed to the rules of the government. And yet, somehow, they had managed to become equal - each of them as bright and as intertwined as the cosmos overhead.
Relationships: Lee Hoseok | Wonho/Moon Taeil, Lee Hoseok | Wonho/Moon Taeil/Reader, Lee Hoseok | Wonho/Reader, Moon Taeil/Reader
Series: Monsta X x NCT [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067114
Kudos: 3





	Within Our Weary Souls~

**Author's Note:**

> This is a re-edited upload. I also recommend listening to U R and Sun&Moon by Monsta X and NCT respectively

The light Hoseok’s torch offered was meagre, barely creating a dent in the all consuming darkness that seemed to reach out and leave behind its inky handprints on every surface it touched. Pathetically dim rays barely even showed his own feet in front of him, the sound of his footsteps and the echoes that reverberated being his only other aid for navigation. 

Only the jingling of his keys kept him company, his gun jostling in its holder with every step he took. Really, it seemed to be his only solace in the endless corridors of the underground - he feared he would have gone insane otherwise from the lack of any sound. 

He had recently been relocated, removed from the upper ground he used to patrol with faction D and instead placed in some damp, shitty, desolate corner underneath the base; Hoseok would have been lying if he said he didn’t hate it.

His saliva was thick in his throat, sight playing tricks on him as he saw faded figures and shadows dancing around him, taunting him as he continued his endless patrol. Why they had moved him from his original post still baffled him, what the hell was there to even look for down here anyway? Apart from the spiders and dust bunnies, there was no life to be seen. 

Grey stone continued in his field of vision, only interrupted by the ever-so-rare flame lit torch that graced him and painted the surrounding walls a flickering amber. He continued to walk, continued to hear nothing but his own breathing and fumbling, continued to hallucinate things around him despite knowing in his heart of hearts that he was truly alone. 

The place was filled with endless nooks and crannies, perfect for hiding in and remaining out of sight. He also knew that many of the corridors led to dead ends, designed so only experts would know how to enter and to get out. It was no wonder he was entering the preliminary stages of paranoia. 

Resisting the urge to yawn, he inhaled deeply and sped up, wanting to get his rounds over and done with - never mind the facts he still had countless hours left to go before the sun rose and he was officially relieved from his duties. 

‘Relieved,’ Hoseok thought, scoffing to himself and hearing the sound repeat multiple times before slowly dying out, ‘like anything in this fucking place is relieving.’

He blinked again, willing away the lull of exhaustion by focusing on the cracks of the flooring underfoot. Each one of them was shaped differently, some jagged and rough while others were almost poetic in their sloping curves. Like the rhyme went: step on a crack, break your mother’s back.

Slowly and delicately, he placed his foot over one of them, body tensing like something was going to happen. His boot covered it fully and he relaxed, scolding himself internally for being such a baby when, suddenly, he heard a scream so loud and so blood chilling, he all but screamed himself. 

His blood turned to ice, mind going blank as he ran in the direction of the shriek, the gun moved from the holder into his sweaty palm. Hoseok, for the life of him, couldn’t understand why there would be anyone down here, let alone screaming with such agony in their voice. 

The air whipped his face as he ran, muscles working against his fatigue to bring him to the source of the noise, his directions based purely off of intuition and fading echoes.

Finally, after what felt like hours of running on pure adrenaline, he had reached the person that had made the noise. However, instead of being conscious like he had wished and prayed for, they were laid on the ground, body sprawled across the cold stone without a care for their health it well being. 

Eyebrows furrowing together, he gave them one more glance before looking up at the other two people there. They wore guard uniforms similar to his, the design and structure almost identical if not for the colour of the sash that adorned his shoulder - a rich purple that immediately outranked their washed out red.

“What the hell is going on?” He snapped, internally cringing at the fact he had to be so rude. “What the fuck are they doing on the floor?”

The taller guard tutted, clearly feeling emboldened by the power of having someone at their feet. It made his insides curl with disgust. “It ain’t fucking listening to us, major,” he spat, nudging the fallen body with the toe of his boot, “was giving us lots of trouble. Took a shit ton of time to get it down here so we used the sedative.”

That would explain the lack of movement despite the scream from just a few moments earlier. 

“Are you on night duty, major?” The shorter one asked and he nodded curtly. They held out their hand, dropping a key into his palm. “That’s for it’s food slot. Boss said we can’t give the cell key.”

They were picked up without a care, the cell door clunking and rattling almost deafening in the silence of the underground. And with just as much indignation, they were thrown inside, a boot connecting with their side as they rolled on the freezing cold floor. Hoseok’s heart ached as he realised he could do nothing. 

Quickly, the duo began to walk away and he frowned, needing to know more information than the shitty crumbs he was handed. 

“Oi, what is it here for?” He barked, blocking out the sound of his own voice. 

Hoseok detested being so boorish with his words, much preferring to use kind and respectful language. However, his occupation wouldn’t allow for that - he would immediately be stripped of his rank if anyone so much as overheard him speaking humanely to the others 'below him’.

They turned around, disgust clear in their eyes as they looked through the thick steel bars and at the unconscious person within. “They’re an X, Major.”

“What?” He questioned, too bewildered to believe such a blatent lie, “what the fuck are you talking about?”

“Hell if I know, Major. All I know is that they’re a pain in the ass,” they began to head away again and he didn’t bother to stop them, instead waiting for the sound of the gate to blast through the emptiness that plagued the underground. 

And sure enough, the ringing of the gate was loud enough to be heard even from his far away position, the creaking metal creating a haunting cacophony that lingered in the air long after they had disappeared.

Now that Hoseok knew he was truly alone, he grabbed a flame torch and moved closer to the wrought iron cage that confined the 'X’ as the others had so kindly put it. 

The glow of the fire bathed the surrounding area in deceptively warm hues of gold and orange, almost forging a homely feel that masked the floor and isolation that surrounded them. Hoseok shuffled closer, getting onto his knees and being as quiet as he could - not wanting to startle them awake, though he doubted he would have been able to with the sedative coursing through them. 

They laid uncomfortably against the floor, cheek pressing against the cold and arms squashed under their weight. Surely they would wake up with a crick in their neck the next morning. 

He crossed his legs, sitting up just in front of the looming bars. There was no use in circling the dark passageways any longer when he was much more interested in whoever this was. 

Unable to discern their gender due to their position, he settled for thinking of them as just the 'X’. 

Fingers grazed over the girthy poles, the metal almost sticking to his skin with how cold it was. He wished he could have given them something to combat the freezing temperatures. 

His breath came out in soft pants, his back against the wall as he watched them quietly - trying to get used to the lack of light enough so that he could make out some of their features. It failed miserably, unable to see anything more than the outline of their figure even when he shone his torch towards them. 

Shoulders slumping, he found solace in the crackling of the fire next to him. His legs were pulled to below his chin and he continued gazing at them, his own eyes beginning to droop despite himself.

And slowly, but surely, he was fast asleep, breaths synced with theirs in the first simple act of harmony.

* * *

The bowl of food he held was slowly becoming lukewarm as he made his way through the maze that was his station. After a week, he had slowly become more accustomed to his route and where to turn to reach his end destination. Hoseok no longer bothered to look around the entire area anymore, finding it a waste of time; he would much rather sit with the only other person there - not that they ever said much, or anything. 

Every time he had come down for the past week on his patrols, they had been asleep. He had no idea whether it was from being sedated and drugged into the state or if they naturally fell asleep during the time he came. 

There was no possible way to discern the endless night from the day in their cage, not once had he seen a single window or clock apart from his own tattered pocket watch. He highly doubted the two from days earlier were generous enough to bring a clock down either. 

Spying the light of the torches as he headed towards the cell, the food still, rather surprisingly, held its heat. Hoseok had to fight to make sure it was warm, the cooks refusing to let him use the stove until they saw the sash on his shoulder and relented with fear fuelling their actions. He found the slop especially disgusting when it was cold, this was his way of trying to make it slightly more bearable to consume.

Squinting up at the torches, he swallowed dryly as he fumbled for the key to the food slot, finding it in his back pocket and slowly turning the lock - trying to be as quiet as he could. The bowl was shoved through, the bread that was shoved on top likely damp and soggy. He didn’t know if that was any better than it being stale and old.

Leaning back to shut the hatch, he glanced upwards and nearly felt his heart leap out from his chest. Instead of seeing the normal sleeping figure he had become so accustomed to watching, a pair of unblinking eyes met his own. 

There was no words exchanged, nothing said or done as they stared at each other like the strangers they were. One of them was staring in hatred and the other in awe. 

Sounds of his boots scraping across the stone floor filled the near deafening silence, however he barely noticed - all of his attention on memorising the details of the mysterious person that was now sat awake and fully conscious. 

They did not blink, hues hauntingly empty as they bore into his soul. He had seen the exact same lifeless look a hundred times over, embodied it himself even, and yet it never got any easier to see. Shivers ran down his spine, his fingers flexing as he shoved his hand into his pocket. 

The torch light was dim though still enough for him to get a clearer look than previously. Very quickly, Hoseok realised that the figure informed of him was rather feminine. Nonetheless, that wasn’t what had caught his gaze, no; that would have to be the frighteningly empty expression that glossed over her features. 

Others that were in faction D usually had similar looking sombre visages, their lips drawn into a straight lines and eyes lacking depth as they slaved away on the fields - working their body to the bone and receiving almost nothing in return. But he was unfortunately used to that, he was _not_ accustomed to the almost accusatory look in her eyes. 

Every subtle movement he made was tracked, from the slight drumming of his fingers to the way in which his eyes travelled - he felt like he was the one being observed instead of the other way around.

However, for a brief moment, her gaze had shifted to the bowl of food and he knew then that it had to have been the first meal she was offered all week. Naively, he had been under the impression that they fed her once in the morning too; that obviously wasn’t the case judging by the way she looked at the gruel with a near inhumane want. 

The food was porridge in its bare essentials, made with wheat farmed from near-slave labour and churned together to form a thick, syrupy substance. Every time he had eaten it, it had made him gag as it stuck like glue to the roof of his mouth and to the back of his throat, refusing to budge the slightest inch. 

And the bread… Hoseok knew the bread was nowhere near fresh when it reached the people below faction B. If he was being generous, he would say that they got it two months after manufacture - when it was almost nothing but a brick like husk that scraped your insides as you swallowed dryly. 

Hoseok licked his dry maws, knowing the reason she wasn’t moving was because he was there.

His lips parted, voice near booming in the endless vacuum of the underground despite trying to keep it low and non threatening. 

“You should eat.”

She didn’t stir. Not even a finger twitched as she continued to watch him. He noticed upon looking closer, that she was guarding her arm from his view, tucking it under the lump of fabric she wore. 

Hoseok wasn’t stupid, his joints groaning as he stood up; she clearly regarded him as a threat. She would have been immensely stupid not to be. 

Quietly, he made his way out of her sight, sitting standing in one of the crannies that was out of her view yet still allowed him full access of his vision. For a few long moments, she was stationary, head tilting ever so slightly as she looked in the direction he had gone before. 

Then, once she had determined that she was no longer in any immediate danger, she reached out for the bowl and grabbed the bowl, her expression unchanging even as she spooned the damp bread into her mouth - he doubted it even had any nutrition value after so long. 

Hoseok had known hunger, of course he did. He had known when he had been stealing from the bin at the back of the bare, picking away at the mould on bread and scarfing down whatever he couldn’t. He had known it when his mother was unable to provide anymore for him and he was left to roam the streets until a guard had picked him up by the scruff of his neck and forced him into training. 

But, as he watched her hurriedly shovel the foul mixture into her mouth like it was the most delicious thing ever; he wondered if he had ever truly known starvation.

She finished quickly, gently cupping the bowl with her free arm and placing it at the edge of her cell near the slot he had opened. Everything did was with her left arm, the right one remaining hidden and out of use. 

Then, she stood up and stretched, the sounds of her joints popping reaching him even from the distance he was at. Obviously the floor was not very comfortable nor forgiving of the human body’s needs. Then again, neither was the bed that creaked under her weight, the mattress filled with limp straw and matted features, there wasn’t even a pillow of blanket provided. 

He slowly returned to in front of the cell, noting that she had turned to face the wall, her body rhythmically rising and falling. Suddenly, an urge to speak and question her was itching at his insides. 

What exactly was faction X? Was the rumours real? Was she actually one of them? 

Nonetheless, he didn’t speak a single word, choosing to remain silent. There was no use in trying to beat a horse that had sewn its mouth shut. If she wasn’t going to speak to him, the last he would do was force her to. 

And so, for the rest of his patrol, he did nothing more than sit and wonder about whether everything he had ever been force fed was a lie.

* * *

Taeil could have screamed, unadulterated anger and frustration coursing through his veins as he gripped the paper, wrinkles rippling across the godforsaken map as he clenched his fist. 

He couldn’t believe he had already gotten lost, every corridor he went down seemed to look the same, winding and constricting like a viper readying itself to aim for his throat. The map was useless, only confusing him further as he tried to figure out where the hell he was. His feet were beginning to ache and he knew he would be severely reprimed if he was even a few minutes late in delivering the notice. 

The piece of paper that had weighed only a few grams before now seemed to weigh him down, held in the pocket of his obscenely large hood that did nothing more than get in his way. Licking his dry lips, he inhaled raggedly, trying to make regain rationality instead of growing angrier. He still had an hour to deliver it - opting for heading out as soon as he had gotten it instead of lounging around. 

That was enough time, he reasoned, he could still figure this out and be over with this job. 

Taeil straightened the paper, tilting it and squinting. He was just beside the quarters for Faction B, the one for the guards in training and other training government bodies. Unable to resist a scoff and a look of disgust, he turned away towards the look at the entrance shown on both the map and in front of him. 

It was old and rusted, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, not when it looked like a short cut to the place he needed to be. Yanking the gate, he couldn’t help his surprise when it actually opened, albeit with a hefty creak and groan. 

He stepped into the darkness, squinting as he closed the gate behind him, not bothering to try and fumble with the rusted lock. It looked like it would crumble between his fingers at the gentlest of touches anyway. 

Thankfully, there was some torches that lit the way, seemingly burning on a fat like substance as oil was rare and nearly worth its weight in gold. Then again, he wasn’t bothered enough to check. 

Walking through the dimly lit corridors was like wandering around blindfolded after having been spun around, disorienting and incredibly irksome. It was just as bad as being above ground and he immediately regretted his decision to take the shortcut - obviously it had been locked up for a reason his foolhardy self had refused to acknowledge. 

'Whatever,’ he thought irritatedly to himself, 'it’s okay. I can just follow the map.’

Every step he took sounded the same, looked the same, was the same. It felt like he was moving around in circles despite the straight line he had been travelling in. These tunnels must not have been used for anything other than transferring goods underground by people who knew what they were doing. Taeil, unfortunately, was not one of these people. 

Just as he was beginning to grow frustrated all over again, his vision filled with nothing but lame crumbling brick and mortar that stretched on for eternity, he finally heard something. The sound of someone else’s footsteps was clear, but their direction was not.

He looked up from the map, eyes narrowed as they scanned his surroundings, trying to find the source of the noise. There was nothing there and that was suspicious. However, as he looked closer, he noticed some items placed just below one of the torches. 

Heading closer to it, he prayed that he had been imagining it. The only other people that, conceivably, could use these underground tunnels would have been people a part of faction A or B. People like him that were in faction C would never have the luxury of knowing how to make their lives easier. Taeil also knew that it was any of those two, he was majorly fucked. 

Gulping, he was just about to step into the light of the torch when he hit a wall, his feet twisting and balance disappearing as he stumbled from the hit. There was nothing in front of him a moment ago, what the hell had gotten in his way?

He looked up quickly, hood covering the expression on his face. And he was lucky it did so, for the 'Wall’ he had ran into was not a wall, but a living and breathing human being with a royal purple sash that he had only nightmares of seeing. 

All the blood in his body ran cold, his skin turning pale as he could already taste the copper and iron in his mouth. He couldn’t believe he had fucked up so badly as to run into one of the head guards, quite literally! The people that were as feared as the government bodies themselves, and Taeil had the luck to crash into them. Really, he would have laughed at his luck if he wasn’t so terrified. 

Taeil wanted to stammer, to squeak out and apology and beg for forgiveness, yet he didn’t - half from fear and half because he knew he was forbidden to talk back or even interact with people on factions above his for any reason other than to relay information. If he spoke and his contribution was seen as not needed, it was classified as insubordination and he would be punished as such. 

His heart thundered in his ears, taking multiple steps back as he trembled, hands instinctively reaching out to cover his face as he screwed his eyes shut: waiting for the blows and lashes to mark his body from the thick belt around their waist. 

But instead, nothing happened.

There were no lashes, no beatings and no words spoken, not from Taeil nor from the guard. His arms slowly lowered with him realising that they hadn’t moved from their original spot. 

His mouth remained glued shut, pulse thumping loudly in his ears and against the protruding vein in his neck. Stress would truly make him pass out before any blood loss did.

The map was gently eased from his grip and turned around so they could look at it better, long fingers glossing over the wrinkled surface to smooth it out. 

At first Taeil felt confusion, and then he felt relief. Eventually, after a couple moments of silence, he gained enough courage to steal a look at the guard - barely suppressing his gasp as he did so. 

The man in front of him was *gorgeous*, standing taller than him by a good 10cm. His lips were plush, cheeks full and tinted in the slightest shade of rose. His features were warm, hand crafted by the gods of beauty and admiration. Long lashes fanned across his cheek, teeth biting at his bottom lip ever so slightly as he studied the map. He looked almost too stunning to be real, to be working as in of the most feared positions. Then again, Taeil mused, it was always the most beautiful people that were the most deceptive.

His gaze wandered down to his arms, suddenly hit with the reality of why this man was a guard, or at least part of the reason; his full and firm physique.

While Taeil was rather small and delicate, his own softer features reflecting this, the guards was nothing like him. Muscles bulged against the sleeves of his uniform as he held the paper, the buttons on his shirt looking near ready to burst at a moments notice. It wasn’t abnormal for guards to be fit, yet he had never imagined it to be to this extent. 

A small cough drew him out of his thoughts, his back straightening as he lowered his head instinctively, his muscles tensing as he prepared for a firm reprimand. 

What he received was a soft spoken question of where he was going and whether he was lost, his shock immobilising him for a good few moments. Had this man, this head guard no less, spoken to him like he was an equal?

Taeil was gobsmacked. He had never heard of such a thing, never dared to dream of it even. Every guard he met was on a power trip, drunk off of the authority they were granted while acting like they weren’t pawns in the game of the government. 

He nodded ever so slowly. 

“Where do you need to be?” The man asked and Taeil pointed to the office of the counsellor, his hand visibly shaking. Thankfully, the guard didn’t utter a word about it, ill or otherwise. 

He frowned slightly, dark eyebrows knitting together as he looked at Taeil - not that he noticed with his own view of the ground and thick black boots. “How did you get in? You’re in the underground. The office is on the surface level. ”

His mouth opened, his brain working at high speeds to try and figure out how to get out of being punished. He couldn’t admit that truth without incriminating himself. 

Nothing slipped past his lips, syllables dying in the back of his throat as a garbled sound reflective of his anxiety was vocalised instead. Flames from hell itself seemed to lick at his insides, his cheeks warm and face burning at his blunder. 

His maws parted once again to try and speak properly - and it was then that the gods seemed to finally be looking out for him and the sounds of metal flashing echoed down the corridors, heavy foot falls preceding them. 

The guard’s frown deepened, handing him back the map and pointing ahead. “Carry on walking straight until you see a gate. Go through it and then left, the office is the-”

His sentence was cut off by the appearance of two other guards. Their spines were straight and expressions neutral, almost demanding respect that Taeil would never willingly give them.

Villainous gazed rolled over his form and for once he was grateful for the cloak he wore, his shudder concealed completely. They didn’t breathe a word, leaving him alone once they realised who he was stood beside. Even amongst guards, there were varying levels and they were only red sashed - a colour specifically for the proverbial work dogs of the government. They were almost like personal assistants for the dastardly. 

With a quick nod towards the man at his side, they produced a key and unlocked the cage that had, until now, been out of his range of view. He was unable to see clearly within it or at the person inside, for three others figures were now blocking his vision. 

Nonetheless, he could very easily hear that struggling from within, the screams and scuffling indicative of an unwilling captive. His curiosity was sparked as well as his empathy, the two guards now laying on top of whoever was unfortunate enough to be in the cell, a hand wrapped around their mouth as their shouts were muffled. 

He would have allowed his curiosity to grow further had it not been for the man at his side, seemingly looming over him as he glanced at Taeil. He didn’t have the nerve to stay any longer, rushing away as fast as his feet could carry himself, the light from the end almost enough to make tears spring to his eyes. Even so, he had taken a single look back over his shoulder and felt bewilderment to see the almost apologetic expression on the man’s face as he watched the prisoner be pinned down. 

Air seemed to escape him, his inhales burning the back of his throat and his lungs as he heaved, unable to clearly make sense of what he had seen and what happened. He didn’t know if he wanted to make sense of it either. 

Heart beating in his throat, he forced down any observable emotion on his countenance and turned left, the document still, thankfully, in his pocket.

Taeil’s ears were buzzing, the low tone making it nearly impossible to concentrate on his knocking, the quick three tapped knock almost becoming four before he caught himself. 

The gruff 'come in’ was the final thing he needed to draw him back to attention, the happenings of the underground shoved to the back of his mind for now as he walked in, looking briefly at the surrounding office before looking at the shaggy, middle aged man sat ahead of him. 

With purpose in his movements, he placed the wax sealed envelope onto the table, waiting patiently for him to finish reading - unable to leave until he was dismissed. 

His eyes flickered up to the clock, sighing in relief internally. At least he had managed to deliver it with ten minutes left to the hour. As he stood, head pointed down towards his tattered shoes, he noticed a file that was left half open. 

Taeil’s curiosity would be his downfall - the saying 'curiosity killed the cat’ almost a self fulfilling prophecy. However, he also knew the other half of the phrase, that satisfaction brought it back. And, as he read the handwritten documents, satisfied was all he could be. 

It spoke of a 'Faction X’ and projects that they had done. There wasn’t too much detail of everything, though he supposed they did that by word of mouth instead of easily discoverable documents. Or maybe the counsellor was just an idiot. 

“You’re dismissed, I have nothing to say,” Taeil nodded, leaving swiftly and closing the door behind him without looking back. What he had seen in the underground and of the files only made him more determined to find out what was going on. If it wasn’t something worth hiding, they wouldn’t have hidden anything underground and they also wouldn’t have kept everything vague. 

The government liked to pride themselves on being 'transparent’ with all their citizens when all they were was opaque, hiding behind lies and fear mongering to continue their rule. Nothing they did was of any benefit to the lower factions, only ever putting more money into their endless pockets. 

He had to ask, what was the use of money in such a wasteland? 

Taeil walked quickly, not daring to go back through the tunnels again. He was fast to move, covering the ground swiftly now that he knew the way back - his memory vital to his designated role.

His station was lonely, the room small and cramped with no room for anything other than a bunk bed and a desk to place personal belongings and clothes in - not that he had very much of either. 

He climbed into the bottom bunk, the cloak of his roommate already hung up and ready for tomorrow - the night’s stars and moonlight leaking in through the barred windows. All he could see as he gazed upwards was the bending wood of the top bunk and the white of the mattress. 

“Changmin-ssi?” Voice echoing despite the whispering tone he had used, Taeil hoped he was still awake. 

There was creaking and then there was silence, making him think that he had just shifted at the noise but not fully awoken.

“Changmin-ssi,” he tried again, this time earning a soft hiss of tiredness and a slightly vexxed 'yes?’

Taeil felt a little awkward as they never conversed much, much more so co-existing within the same space than anything else. The only reason he even knew the older man’s name was because he had overheard it before from one of the other messengers Changmin was close with. 

“What do you know about Faction X?” That really wasn’t the most common question one would expect to receive while the world was still quiet outside, so, understandably, Changmin took a couple of seconds to answer.

“They’re a myth,” He spoke, voice still gruff with sleep though considering less annoyed than he had been, “they don’t exist.”

Taeil knew for a fact the documents he had seen and read with his own two eyes were not fabricated, so he pushed on. “What’s the myth?”

And it was as Changmin spoke his next sentence, that the world seemed to completely pause and stop spinning on its axis - the stars suddenly glowing a million times brighter as his mind worked at a hundred miles an hour. 

“They’re a faction of people who are immune. It’s impossible for them to exist, and if they did then they’re either being harvested for a cure or are dead,” Changmin said, a yawn following his words as if they didn’t carry the weight of the universe. “It was just a children’s tale that I haven’t heard for a long time.”

Taeil became quiet, mulling over what he had just found out before thanking him gently and turning onto his own side. 

He hadn’t ever imagined that there could have been a strand of humanity that were immunity to the deadly plague that had forced humanity to hide like cattle. All he and his mother before him had ever known was the confinement of the iron city, the glass and steel dome overhead always reflective of their entrapment.

The sudden solar flares that had ravaged the earth over 100 years ago had left behind nothing but destruction, frying everything that had run with electricity and killing all communication the world had with each other. Crops were burnt to cinders and ash, epidemics of famine devastated populations worldwide and people began to drop like flies. 

That had only been the beginning. 

After the crops had been growing again and people could sustain themselves, all seemed to be well with plans of restoring electricity lines and satellites coming to light. It was discovered that hoards of people were getting ill, showing flu like symptoms before their organs began to shut down and they were turned into shells of their former selves - slowly dying as every cell in their body was killed.

A cure was not quick enough to come, though the cause had been identified as a rare strain of the flu that had mutated from the flares and spread through the poorer, struggling farmers before coming into cities and spreading through the population. Soon, the virus was everywhere, on every surface and in every corner of the earth, threatening the very existence of humans. 

He had heard of people getting cancer as a result from the flares, of children doomed to die before they had ever truly lived. Yet, not once, had he heard the myth of the immune. 

How could there be anyone who could survive something so devastating? Survived the very thing that had pulled the population from billions to millions. 

Taeil could hardly bring himself to sleep, his thirst for knowledge slowly chipping away at his sensibility and making him restless. He had to go back, he had to find out if the person they had restrained in the cell was actually a person of myths. 

And so, he had made up his mind. Tomorrow, instead of returning to his station like the obedient messenger he was brought up to be, he would return to the underground and observe the prisoner - maybe even talk to them if he was able to. 

Taeil prayed, the act rare and almost always done in moments of desperation, that he would get the answers he so wanted. Whether or not he would like what he found out, was another question and concern all in itself.

* * *

Hoseok’s hopes were as lifeless and great as the food in the bowl he was bringing down. Every step was muscle memory, no conscious effort made to try and navigate himself through the winding underground. He always found himself in front of her cell anyway, what did it matter if he couldn’t speak the directions out loud?

As he neared her cell, he could clearly hear the abysmal creaking of the bed springs. Each movement that was made on it, no matter how gentle nor careful, never failed to result in squeaking. Under any other circumstances, it wouldn’t have bothered him, but it was slowly driving him to his wits end bearing it every day for hours upon end. He couldn’t imagine hearing it all day without a break like she did. 

Like always, he unlocked the food slot and pushed the food through, the metal bowl scraping against the stone as he did so. She didn’t look up, continuing to rock slowly on her bed. 

Hoseok’s eyes followed her movements, watching her go back and forth with an emotion he couldn’t quite name. It was sad, he thought, that he was watching yet another person die right in front of his eyes while he could do nothing about it. 

Never did she speak, not to him or the guards that brought her down (though, he wouldn’t have spoken to them either with how they treated her like nothing more than a ragdoll you be tossed around). Not once had he heard her voice used for anything other than screaming. He almost longed to hear her speak to him normally - like they weren’t opposites on the scale of life. 

Even so, Hoseok was a rational and intelligent man that knew when to swallow what he was being served. If it was silence that was being dished it, it would be silence that he choked down. 

Chewing on his cheek, he regarded the bowl and then her figure, his heart pounding. “You should eat,” Hoseok spoke strongly despite the slightly tremours of his fingers, “you’re getting too thin.”

His words were not loud and were not interlaced with any ill intent, however, as she slowly turned her head to look at him, he felt as though he had committed one of the greatest sins imaginable.

Everything about her screamed murderous wrath, her muscles twitching with rage instead of the excruciating cold. Dread pooled in his gut, making him feel heavy as her legs unfolded from beneath her, carrying her weight ever so carefully as she sat in front of him. She had never done that before. 

Anger seemed to colour her hues in a way he had never seen before, setting them alight in a frightening way that was only further accentuated by the yellow tinted light of the torch. 

Her fingers were curled tightly around the edge of the bowl, pulling it towards her as she sat cross legged, placing it in the gap between her limbs. Heat permeated through the metal on to her skin, goosebumps easing from that area as warmth finally blessed her numb flesh. 

Despite this, her knuckles were pale, near paper white as she clutched the sides of the bowl and held it up. For a split second, he wondered whether she was going to stick her head into it and eat without the spoon. 

Honestly, he would have much preferred that over what she did next. 

She stood up, never once dropping eye contact, and moved the bowl over to her dominant hand. It all happened within a couple of seconds, her arm rearing back as far as her muscles would allow before she swung it forward again, the momentum from the swing driving the bowl forwards.

Her hold disappeared from the sides, the collision of metal on metal ringing throughout the underground as the bowl then fell to the ground: completely empty. 

Splatters of gruel sprayed the wall behind him and beside him, the floor completely coated with the deplorable substance. Not one inch was spared, some of the food even flicking onto his body, leaving specks on his shoes and his uniform. It slid down the walls, pooling on the floor with a disgusting plop. Hoseok barely held back his gag.

Completely stunned by her actions, he could only watch as she sat back down on her bed, facing him with a challenge written in her gaze. She was daring him to try and do something, knowing he didn’t have the key to her cell and he couldn’t find through the bars to grab at her. 

That was the most reaction he had ever gotten from her and he couldn’t say that it hadn’t been memorable. He certainly would have the visual of the thick oatmeal like substance ingrained in his mind for awhile. 

Getting up, he brushed down his front and approached the bars as cautiously as he could. “I can take the bowl for you, if you want.”

Instead of a similar explosive reaction, like kicking the bowl towards him or leaving him yo claw for it, she picked it up and gently pushed it through the open slot, her hands retracting hurriedly before they even had a sliver of a chance of touching his. 

Within a second, he was stood up straight and clutching the bowl to his chest, dipping his head lowley in thanks before walking away to try and find some cleaning supplies - he would need to go to the surface again for that. 

Sighing internally, he stepped over the chaos and began to make his way back.

Taeil backed away, hiding in one of the dead end corridors to avoid being seen, curling into himself as the guard walked past with a weary expression, the bowl dripping its remaining contents onto the front of his shirt. 

A grimace found its way onto his face, having seen the entire scene unfold from start to finish. The biggest question he had was why the guard hadn’t reacted violently, why he had continued to be kind and soft spoken despite the act that had occurred. He had no doubt that any other guard would have beaten her within an inch of her life.

There was no doubt about it, the man was very strange and he would have to act carefully with him around. Taeil didn’t trust his faux kindness, there was no one who willing to extent any hospitality anymore; it was survive or die.

As his footsteps began to fade away, the only audible sound being his own breathing and racing pulse, he stepped out of the shadows and walked towards the cell, avoiding the messy splatters of wasted gruel. He could barely bring himself to call it food. 

The one thing that made his heart stop racing so fast was the knowledge that he was now the only one down here. They only had one guard on duty during the night and he had just left. Everyone else was asleep and wouldn’t be awake until the sun rose above the horizon in 6 hours.

Taeil stood to the right of the cell where there was less scattered muck, his brows furrowing together furiously as he peered in. There was nothing about it that he envied, in fact, his own shitty room seemed like heaven compared to the hellish conditions she was staying in. 

There was nothing to occupy her, to keep her entertained throughout the long and dreary days. The bed was not comfortable, barely fit for a mutt let alone a human being who was vastly more complicated with their needs. Her clothes were tattered and torn at the edges, her sleeved frayed so much he wondered how it wasn’t coming apart at the seams. Taeil suddenly felt very grateful for the black shirt and cloak that was nestled comfortably on his torso.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking of how to attract her attention. She obviously wasn’t asleep yet, her body upright as she stared at the wall opposite him. 

Should he say hello? Introduce himself? Call for her attention? He felt rusty with his communication skills and faint regret began to bleed into his veins, though it was soon squashed by his overflowing determination for answers. His mother had always said his wide eyed curiosity would get him into trouble and he wandered when her words would come true - they always did eventually. 

“Hello?” He spoke, cringing as his voice echoed off the stone walls and reverberated in his eardrums, his throat suddenly dry as he watched her shoulders tense up. However, she didn’t turn around. “Can I- Can I talk to you please?”

Maybe it was the fact that he had used his manners that enticed her enough to look over her shoulder, her eyes so dark and consuming that he was turned mute by the intensity of them. He had never seen anyone’s eyes seem so endless, like he would be able to drown within them without ever reaching the bottom. 

Her eyes burnt into his skin, piercing his soul and unravelling him for her to see. Taeil felt uncomfortable under her watch, shifting awkwardly as he pulled at the collar of his shirt. Immediately, she followed the action and narrowed her hues at the cloak that adorned his shoulders and the hood that obscured most of his face. 

Feeling her linger on his face, he shoved down his hood and relaxed, trying to coax her into the same. Despite the fact that she was the one trapped behind the collosal steel bars, he almost felt like prey being scrutinised on whether or not they were worth the chase. 

“I’m in Faction C,” He spoke, watching her lips part from their straight line and pull into a frown, twisting her entire body around to look at him. The quiet that followed seemed eternal, his hands tightening around the bars as his body heat was slowly zapped from him through the cold iron. 

Tongue swiping across her bottom lip, he clearly saw her swallow. 

“Why are you here?”

The question hung in the air while he mulled over his answer. He had been wondering over that very question himself as he made his way over, risking his entire livelihood for his insatiable thirst to know everything. Taeil was foolhardy, yes, stupid? That was debatable depending on who you asked. 

Why was he here? He asked himself, knowing the answer immediately. 

“I was curious about you,” Her eyebrow raised and he felt his ears burn red, smiling sheepishly at her. It was a childish answer but it was the honest and sincere truth. There was nothing more to it than curiosity. “I was here yesterday by accident and I saw you. That man, the guard with the purple sash, he helped me get out.”

She nodded, looking deep in thought before she spoke again. In all honesty, he found her voice to be rather nice - a little rough from dehydration and lack of energy, but carrying soothing elements that reminded him of his mother’s own warm tone. “You really aren’t faction A?”

“No. I got lost yesterday while delivering a letter,” He played with the hem of his shirt, picking at the loose thread nervously. This almost felt like an interrogation of him and his interest in her despite the fact it should have been the other way around - _he_ had seeked _her_ out for answers. 

“Then why did you come back? You must know that you’ll be punished if they find you down here without a reason.”

“I… Don’t know. I just wanted to talk to you,” Shock was clear in her features, that answer clearly not something that she had expected to hear from anyone. The only other person that had attempted to speak to her properly was that guard that seemed to possess the patience of a saint. 

She got off the bed, bare feet touching the stone cold floor as she walked towards him stopping a few metres away as food splatter dirtied the already dusty and grimy floor. 

“Why did you throw the food?” He questioned and she just shrugged, looking down at the mess with an impassive expression.

“I wasn’t hungry,” Taeil knew that sentiment to be false as soon as it had passed her lips, the straight faced lie making his head spin. “I didn’t want to eat it.”

The loose thread was rolled between his fingers as he chewed on his lip, deciding to accept the answer despite knowing it was false. Nonetheless less, he wasn’t irritated nor did he care - he was still a stranger to her, what obligation did she have to tell him the truth?

“Why are you here?” His hand wrapped around the bars again and she looked at his fingers as they curled, her own digits twitching to mimic his movements. “Why did they put you in this cage?”

“To do tests on me.”

“What kind?” She shrugged again. 

“I’m never awake. They always drug me before they do it so I never know,” So that was why she had hidden away her arm, the limbs pulled out of its sleeve and resting against her chest. “I don’t know what they do to me.” The sentence was solemn, full of an unrecognisable emotion that he couldn’t properly decipher. 

The air around them was suddenly thick, his lungs feeling like they were shrinking as it became hard to breathe. He didn’t know to ease the suddenly rising tension, his hands trembling asked gripped the bars. “I’m Taeil.”

She seemed confused by his sudden introduction; He was too. What had possessed him to just blurt out his name, he did not know.

Moving closer, she held the bars too and he stared as her fingers coiled around them with a practised ease. “I'm… I’m (y/n).”

“(y/n),” he tested the name, syllables rolling off his tongue easily. Taeil found he liked saying her name, repeating it in his head and storing the information for later. “What faction are you in?“ 

The question that had been plaguing him since yesterday was now out in the open, waiting for her judgement on whether or not it should be answered. Desperately, he hoped she would tell him because no one else would. 

Her eyes remained connected with his, forcing him to carry on looking even if he wanted nothing more than to lower his gaze. Slightly chapped lips moved, forming a pretty 'o’ as she exhaled. "I’m in faction X.”

Everything paused, even his breath hitched in his throat as the words that had been bouncing around in his head was finally said out loud. 

Faction X; the faction of myths and of old wives tales. The faction that shouldn’t have existed in any other realm but his imagination. And yet, here she was, living and breathing proof that such a legend did exist. 

“You’re immune?” He breathed out, barely believing his ears. The nod she gave only confirming it. Still, it felt like a fever dream, the world narrowing down to just them both as his jaw hung open. Every sentence he could think of never made it past his throat, dying just as the words lay on the tip of his tongue. 

Unfortunately, he never got to vocalise anything a familiar footfall echoed throughout the corridor, anxiety skyrocketing again as he ran back to his hiding place, curling in on himself to make him seem smaller. He could feel her hues follow him, her stare the only tangible thing apart from despair in such a desolate area.

Even though he had much more space to spread his limbs, he didn’t allow even a sliver of him to be seen; it was much too risky to be seen. 

The guard returned, trailing a mop and bucket of water behind him. Confusion was the only thing Taeil felt. It wasn’t a guard’s job to be cleaning, especially not a head guard that had the authority to make anyone else he desired do it. And yet… Here he was, dipping the mop into the water and then grabbing a bundle of cloth that had been placed precariously on top of the bucket.

“I’m sorry, I tried to find you some more food but there was only bread,” He opened up the hatch, pushing it through gently before standing up straight. “You should hide it under your bed or something. I don’t want you to get into trouble later.”

If Taeil thought faction X was fictional, then this guard must have been a product of him accidentally travelling to an alternate universe. Nothing he did made any sense for someone with his authority. He was cleaning, he was being soft spoken, he was bringing them food, and for what? For attitude from someone that couldn’t read his intentions and assumed the worst - which was really the smartest thing to do. In a world filled with nothing but corruption, it was a death sentence to take people at face value.

But… The more Taeil thought about it, the more his mind worked and whirled to get an answer as to what the guard was gaining, the overbearingly prevalent answer was nothing; the guard was gaining absolutely nothing. 

There was no rewards to be reaped no pat on the back from superiors, absolutely nothing. And that was the most confusing of all. 

Taeil watched silently as he mopped up the area, the sounds of water sloshing the only thing that rang through the barren underground. The food was dutifully cleaned, not a speck remaining by the time he had finished. He had even cleaned the bars and the inside of her cell (as far as he could shove the mop anyway). It was like witnessing a dog speak, something wholly unnatural yet disturbingly intriguing to watch. 

Hues flickering from the guard to the cell, he made eye contact with her - the same confusion echoing back at him. Neither of them knew why a head guard would act like this. 

She shook her head, turning away and laying on the stiff bed, done for the day as for the night. Taeil decided was too, taking one last look at the shining wet floors before slinking back the way he had come from - now with more questions than answers.

* * *

Taeil may have looked like the runt of the litter, with soft, pretty features that had no place existing within the harsh and barren place they called a sanctuary. He was smaller than the others, his body thinner and maybe a little scrawny to others despite being lithe and as in shape as he possibly could be with his restrictions. 

And Taeil was not stupid as he knew how to make use of his assets. He was small? That meant easier access to otherwise unreachable places. He was unnoticeable? Good, he could get around easier without being disturbed. Outwardly, he seemed to be a shadow that walked in the backgrounds yet internally, he was sharp and quick to learn. 

It had only taken him a week to learn of the guard’s patterns. To know when the changeover between the night and day guards occurred and left him an hour to talk to her. Sometimes it was less, sometimes it was more, but the average was always teetering on the hour mark. 

He sat against the bars while she was just on the other side, leaning against them as she spoke. When she talked about something that interested her, there was a spark in her eyes that otherwise seemed to be dull, lighting up her visage and making her seem young and youthful. He enjoyed doing nothing more than being in her company, her words slowly and filled with comforting syllables that seemed to roll over him and make his muscles relax. 

Over the month that he had been sneaking down, they had formed an unspoken bond, one that felt like a genuine friendship instead of something manufactured and a means of survival. It felt like how his mother has described, the feeling of happiness she had with his father and of wanting to see a smile on his face. Taeil had yet to see her smile fully, but the quick glimpses he had caught were enough to have his own lips curling upwards. 

Humming in response to something she said, he realised she had stopped talking and was now staring intently at him, snapping him out of his trance like state. “Is something wrong?”

“Taeil, do you sing?” He blinked, not expecting that question before shaking his head shyly. 

“Not anymore. I used to when I was younger to my mother, but not since then,” She nodded, accepting his answer.

“You should try again. I like your voice, I don’t mind listening to it. I would love to hear you sing, if you want to, of course,” Feeling heat rush to his cheeks at the compliment, now thankful for the reduced light because he was sure his face was flushed a soft pink. 

Taeil played with the ends of his cloak. “Maybe one day,” came his reply, attention on her hand that supported her weight as she leant against her arm, fingers curled ever so slightly as she drummed them against the stone floor. 

A sudden urge to reach out and hold it overcame him, consuming any rational thoughts he had. He couldn’t remember the last time he had any meaningful physical contact with apart from his mother who had kissed his cheek just hours before she had passed. Physical affection was something he adored and he was unable to express it, suppressing the part of him that yearned for something humane.

She seemed to notice his concentrated gaze, her fingers pausing in their drumming as she regarded him closely. Taeil had never suggested anything other that talking, never even dreamt that she would be interested in anything other than conversation. But that was stupid; if he was touch starved then she would have been practically dead from lack of anything at all. 

Neither of them spoke nor did they make any movement to do anything. 

“Do you not sleep at night?” She asked instead, startling him from the rather sudden change of topic, his throat dry as he snuck a few more glances at her hand that was so unbearably close, - a few more inches and he would have been able to touch it. 

But he didn’t, focusing on her question instead. “I sleep after I leave. Not always for the entire night, but it’s okay.”

The silence that followed seemed endless, carrying on into oblivion until Taeil shuffled, the dust that kicked up tickling his nose. No matter how much the guard cleaned, dust would always linger in the air and suffocate the prisoners from the inside out.

“How well do you sleep?” Expecting the answer to be something along the lines of 'not that well’, Taeil wasn’t surprised in the least when she just shrugged, casting a dry look towards the uncomfortable iron frame that plagued her back and body every day. It was sickening how they didn’t care about how she was and her health. 

You would think with a society on the brink of collapse and extinction, that a person with immunity would be their top priority - and instead she was treated like nothing more than a roach that needed to be squashed and forgotten about. Perhaps they were afraid? Or they were just ignorant. 

A frown marred his features, his lips parting to say something else only to be interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Taeil scrambled up, heart jolting, he wasn’t supposed to be down yet! It had only been half an hour at the most, why was he so early?!

Scrambling upwards, Taeil stumbled into his hiding space and squeezed into the tiny gap that was there. All he could hear was the hammering of his pulse against his rib cage and in his ears that refuting the otherwise calm state of the underground. 

Hoseok appeared in his view, as tall and as handsome as ever - his expression soft as he noticed her on the floor. He squatted down, placing the food through the hatch. 

“How are you?” He questioned as he always did with her response being the same as always: complete silence. “There was a meeting today and they gave me some cake. I didn’t want it so I saved it for you, I’m sure you’ll like it more than I will.”

Taeil’s breath hitched at the sentence that had left his mouth. He had cake? One of the rarest foods that were seen as something only the elite could afford to even think of having? And he had given it to her? 

He had no idea what to think. There had always been a fixed idea in his mind about the intentions of fact A, that they were all on a power trip and were willing to abuse people in less privileged positions to live in the lap of luxury. And yet, this man, this head guard no less with the purple sash that signified just how ruthless he could be, was nothing like that. 

Taeil shook his head, deciding that he should walk away now before he gasped out loud. With feather light footsteps, he began to walk out in the direction of the gate, speeding up considerably. But today, the gods seemed to have cursed him, for there were more guards coming from his exit way and he was forced into two dead ends. If he ran one way, he would run back into the head guard, but if he went the other, he would surely be killed. 

He had to cut his losses, and quickly at that, deciding to race back to where he was hiding. His figure cast a shadow against the walls, attracting the other guard’s attention as they chased after him - hot on his heels and fuelled with good food and rest. 

Taeil was scared mindless, his feet heavy against the stone as he ran as fast as he could, past her cell and past Hoseok who turned around with a crease in his brow and followed after them. 

Unfortunately, he had stumbled over a loose rock and that made him lose enough momentum that the guard was able to pull him back by the collar, near suffocating him as he clawed at his neck and tried to minimise the grip on him. Unable to breathe or talk, he could only struggle with all the adrenaline in his veins, thrashing and twisting in spite of knowing that the severity of his punishment would increase. 

Just as the guard behind him was about to deliver a blow to his head, a booming voice that seemed to shake the entire underground made them both halt. 

“Let go of him, right now.” The man behind him paused, clearly intimidated by Hoseok who outranked him heavily. “Are you fucking deaf? I said LET GO.”

Taeil was dropped immediately, falling to his knees as he wheezed, trying to catch his breath - the air whistling noisily as he inhaled raggedly. 

“But Major, he isn’t supposed to be here. All messengers are suppose to be a-”

“I don’t give a shit. I told him to come to me to give me important documents so no other fucking idiots like you interrupted him. But of course it happened anyway,” If Taeil was any more coherent, he would have gasped at the complete change in attitude. 

It almost have him whiplash to hear the normally soft spoken guard boom and insult the other guard. If he was scared shit less, he couldn’t imagine how the target of his wrath felt. 

“Ma-”

“Don’t you _dare_ open your mouth. Get the hell out of my sight and back to your station before I strip you off your sash and send you to faction D,” The man nodded immediately, scurrying with his tail between his legs and his head lowered. No one would dare to carry on with that threat looming over their heads. 

It wasn’t until Taeil heard the loud clang of the gate shutting and felt the vibrations under his finger tips, that he realised that he was still on the floor with the guard now aware of his presence. 

Taeil felt him come closer, his eyes screwed tightly shut as he tensed - hoping that his last few minutes wouldn’t be spent bleeding out on the stone floor. The ghost of a touch barely brushed over his neck, only just grazing the hairs at the base, when a shriek of 'DON’T FUCKING TOUCH HIM!’ echoed through the walls with so much ferocity that Hoseok had to step away.

Their heads turned to her cell, her body pressed against the bars with warning in her eyes. “Don’t lay a single fucking finger on him.” Hoseok backed away, granting Taeil space. 

He was in complete shock, his mind refusing to register that she had just spoken. In all of the months that he had been sat with her, spoken to her, he had never once heard her voice. Bewilderment coloured his features, the depth and ferocity of her gaze enough to make him feel strangely timid. She had spoken because she didn’t want her harming the man in front of him - the man that seemed awfully familiar the more he looked. 

Just as Hoseok was sure he could place where he’d seen his face, the messenger took off, running, his lithe form creating a vast distance between them already. 

In need of answers, Hoseok ran after him, catching up quickly just as Taeil had gotten past the gate and tugging him by the sleeve into an empty room, locking the door behind them and trapping him. That really wasn’t what Hoseok wanted to do, but he had no other choice.

Taeil felt fear wash over him, pure, debilitating terror that made his limbs feel like lead and his eyes sting as a lump formed in his throat. Hoseok was blocking the doorway, his only escape out of the hell fire that was slowly licking at his insides. All he could remember was how his voice had boomed, commanding the other guard as his eyes were cold and unfeeling - everything Taeil had thought about him turned out to be a lie: a cruel yet wishful lie.

Every inch of him was frozen apart from his hands which trembled like a babe caught in the bitter, frozen winds of the winter. He felt as helpless and as defenseless as one anyway. Swallowing hard, he tried to calm down. Running on adrenaline would only burn him out. 

Hoseok, being the ever observant man he was, noticed how terrified Taeil was. An incredible amount of guilt weighed down his insides, feeling remorse for how his mere presence was enough to have people shaking in fear and disgust. His hands fell from the handle of the door, the harsh stare of his eyes softening until they resembled the gaze that Taeil had always seen, had made himself familiar with. 

“I won’t hurt you,” Hoseok spoke, his voice gentle and soothing like balm on a burn, “I promise. I just wanted to ask you some things and I couldn’t think of a way to get you to stop running from me apart from this. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

A confusing mixture of fear and bewilderment churned in Taeil’s gut, his mind telling him to not trust a single word, but his heart told him to stick it out and listen. He was already trapped with Hoseok, what harm would it do to hear him out? (All the harm, a voice in his head hissed, are you really going to fall for such a honey smothered ploy?)

Taeil nodded, the hood falling from his head and exposing his face. He didn’t have the gall to lift it back up again, his hands firmly at his sides. He felt the guard’s eyes burn into his skin, examining him as he memorised his features. 

He didn’t want to get her into trouble, the way she was treated was horrific enough as it was and he didn’t need to force salt into the raw wound. Hoseok picked up on his reluctance despite his nod, sighing slowly as he looked at Taeil’s downcast hues. 

“Neither of you will get into trouble. I swear, you don’t need to worry about that,” Taeil’s heart burned, aching to believe the words as true and to internalise them, yet the lessons he had already learnt were admonishing him for even entertaining such a thought. As if a guard would ever be anything more than a cheat and monster. 

Though, somehow, the lessons he had already ingrained within himself had begun to fade away. With every kind hearted whisper and act of genuineness that he had seen the head guard display to no one but her, (and his own prying eyes) the lessons had become a little more muted, a little less prominent in his conscience. Could he really trust his words to be true?

“I won’t tell anyone anything you say,” Hoseok tried again, worming his way into his thoughts and forcing him to reevaluate everything he had ever known. 

Taeil’s hands clenched and unclenched, jaw gritted tightly as he stammered out a hoarse 'I don’t believe you.’

Hoseok wasn’t naïve. He had never been expecting Taeil to believe him immediately with no proof, yet it still stung at his insides to know he was so distrusted. 

Hands ran through his hair, tugging at the dark stands that fell haphazardly over his eyes from their once neat and perfect combed state. “I know you don’t, I never thought you would. I wouldn’t have either if I was in your position, a head guard telling you that they weren’t going to punish you, that’s so ridiculous,” He looked up at the ceiling, adam’s apple bobbing as he let go of the burden weighing on his chest, “but I promise that I’m only in this shitty faction to try and help people. I hate this system and I hate this fucking government that does nothing but exploit people. This is the only way I can actively do something and I loathe it.”.

Taeil’s eyes were wide, thoughts grinding to a halt as what Hoseok had just said was registering. Suddenly, the ideas he had so carefully constructed were beginning to crumble. The guard in front of him had done the taboo for someone in his rank - openly criticise the government he worked for. If anyone had heard him it would surely be a death sentence; they wouldn’t even give him the chance of being stripped down to faction D. 

He gazed at the purple sash, the colour that represented royals and those of high class, and then at the solemn face of the guard. The pretty features that Taeil had gazed at from afar were so much more stunning up close, coated in so much more sadness and weight than he had noticed before. 

He couldn’t be lying. No one would risk ever saying such a thing out loud unless they truly meant it because it was equated to treason. Even the messengers and workers in the factions below had to whisper their resentments or risk execution. Taeil doubted there was any exceptions.

Hoseok sat down on the wooden chair, seeming small despite his large and broad frame. “I don’t know how to help her. I can be nice all I want, but it’s doing nothing. I know she’s in faction X and that’s all that’s been told to me.”

Nodding, Taeil somehow managed to find his voice. If this man was truly as honest as the character he was portraying, he would be safe to tell him what he knew. 

“S-she’s immune to the virus,” He licked his dry lips, Hoseok’s eyes rounded in shock at hearing him speak, “they’re doing tests on her to see if they can find out how she’s immune and how to replicate it.”

“How do you know this?” Despite the question, Taeil didn’t feel like he was being interrogated.

“She told me,” he stated simply, swallowing. 

As he said this, a silence fell over the room that had Taeil shifting uncomfortably. 

Finally, Hoseok spoke again, his voice fragile. “She speaks to you?” Taeil nodded simply.

Hoseok felt his heart twist, like someone was holding the organ within their fingers and squeezing it as hard as they could without killing him. Of course she wouldn’t speak to him, he had all the influence over the situation and it was a gross imbalance of power whenever he was stood outside of her cell. And yet, it still hurt to know that she willingly spoke to others. 

“When?" 

"I- Whenever I can come down and speak to her," Taeil was treading lightly, not wanting to say anything that would get him into trouble - the lingering fear still stopping him from exposing more information.

Hoseok blinked, unsure of when he would ever get the time to speak to her with all the guards roaming around. "When do you normally do that? There’s always people around.”

Taeil visibly swallowed. “Whenever you’re on shift, j-just before.” Maybe he was putting everything on the line by telling the truth, but something was nagging at him to say it, to not hide anything. 

All his worries were needless however, as all Hoseok did was sigh and nod, pushing back his hair from his face as he stood up. His shoulders were slumped, holding the weight of years worth of sadness and anger, nearly crushing him as regarded Taeil with a gentle, yet exhausted smile. “It’s okay. I just wanted to thank you for doing that.”

In that instant, everything Taeil had assumed about Hoseok had disappeared. They were two equals with two different positions in life, yet so similar in many ways. However, Taeil, for the life of him, could not figure out why Hoseok was thanking him. 

“For what?” He questioned, furrowing his brows. 

“For giving her someone to talk to. I know she doesn’t trust me and I’m grateful you’ve given her something to look forward to,” He turned away a moment after, trying to subtly wipe at his eyes but Taeil still saw regardless. “I can give you my timetable so you can come down during those times.”

Taeil nodded even though Hoseok didn’t see, his back to him as he found some paper and a pencil in one of the drawers. Occasionally, while he was writing, a hand would reach up to his face and wipe at it, leaving Taeil more and more speechless. He has never seen a guard cry, never even seemed it a reality that they would ever care so deeply about another person that it beought tears to their eyes. 

Taeil thought, as he watched the man hunch over and write, that he was genuine and he could trust him. Perhaps not fully just yet, but he had earned a tiny amount.

“You can read, right?” He nodded at the question, all messengers were required to be literate, “this is my timetable and it won’t change. If it does, I’ll tell you,” Taeil took the paper and put it into his pocket, patting it to make sure it was secure, “you should go back to your quarters now. If that guard comes down again and sees you, it won’t be good.”

Taeil stared at him for a few moments, clearing his throat gently. “Thank you,” he spoke, “and I’m Taeil.”

For the first time, Taeil saw a genuine and large smile light up his face, his visage bright and shockingly beautiful. “I’m Hoseok.”

Hoseok, he repeated in his head. 'What a fitting name for someone like him,’ he mused before giving him a smile in return - one with no hidden intent nor malice.

There was nothing more said as he brushed past, heart still thudding in his chest as he slinked into the corridors and out of sight, blending in with the shadows like he always did - hidden from anyone and everyone apart from her and now Hoseok. 

Meanwhile, while Taeil had gotten to his room safe and sound without arousing suspicion from anyone, Hoseok had been making his way back underground. He was still on shift and he needed to clear some things up anyway.

Very quickly, he found himself in front of her cell again, her form sat on the bed as she stared at the grey stone wall ahead. 

Hoseok’s throat was dry as he approached the bars, feeling apprehensive as he wrapped his fingers around the cell bars. “I sent Taeil to his room, he’s allowed to come whenever I’m on duty.”

She turned around, getting up and walking towards him, eyes full of disbelief with an underlying hint of vulnerability. “Really?” She asked and he almost felt faint. This was the first time she had said anything to him without hatred dripping from every syllable. 

“Yes. I gave him a copy of my timetable, he’s free to come down whenever I’m here. I never had any intentions to hurt you, either of you,” He added, in spite of knowing that she would likely not believe him: and that was okay. Hoseok could gradually earn her trust now; that was all he wanted.

Tongue darting over her chapped lips, she chewed on the insides of her cheek for a moment before nodding, head bowed ever so lightly to him in gratitude. “Thank you,” she spoke and he felt his heart stutter, “I appreciate it.”

He could have died happily in that moment, a warmth spreading through his insides that he had only experienced a few moments ago with Taeil. Words failed him, nothing could have possibly expressed the joy he felt. Instead, he managed a gentle dip of his head before he sat against the wall, heart threatening to hammer out his sternum. 

If this was what true happiness was like, he could have gotten addicted to the feeling.

* * *

Hoseok hated when he was called into meetings, hating them with a burning passion that could have rivalled the flares that started everything. He could never stand to sit down in one place with his 'superior’ telling them mindless amounts of information. It was all rather useless stuff anyway, things he knew from taking the time to look around the other factions and not hiding himself within the four walls of his own section like many of the others.

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, trying his hardest to make it seem like he even vaguely cared, which in itself was an astronomical feat. Glancing over to his left, he saw the guards that had first brought her down to the underground. They looked just as bored as he felt and that probably was the only thing they had in common. 

Resisting the urge to yawn, Hoseok pinched his thigh and sat up straighter, attracting the attention of the man speaking. If only for the sake of courtesy, he tried looking a little more awake now that the corporal’s eyes were on him. 

“I’m sure you gentlemen are well aware of the existence of Faction X by now,” Hoseok sat up bone straight, no longer needing to pretend for all signs of exhaustion and sleepless nights had disappeared the instant he heard those words. “The faction of people who are immune to the virus. The girl was found on the outskirts of the dome, originally part of faction D, but had yet to develop the symptoms even after 5 years. As you know, the virus takes a year to develop fully so this should not have been possible. Which is why she is under our control now. If we are able to find out what exactly makes her immune, then we will be able to replicate it and pass on the cure to the rest of humanity.”

One of the newer guards raised his hand, wanting to speak. “Sir, if we do find a cure, who will be the first to receive it? Those in faction D? They work out in the fields after all.”

The corporal stared at the young man, making him shrink into his chair ever so slightly, not yet used to being scrutinised so heavily. Hoseok could only sympathise; he had once thought the same before knowing the corruption first hand.

Then a booming laugh followed, a hand smacking against the desk as the corporal laughed heartily like the young man had told him the funniest joke of the century and not asked a perfectly valid question. But of course, people who couldn’t see past their own black tinted glasses wouldn’t dare think of others beneath them.

Hoseok shuffled again, feeling more uncomfortable than before. 

“Of course not! The government and Faction A will be the first one to get the cure, the most important people must receive everything first. That’s how life works, boy,” The young man nodded, sitting up a little bit still frightened. “If we hand everything out first, what if there is no cure left for us? Who will run everything? The messengers in C? Don’t make me chuckle.”

Hoseok closed his eyes for a split second, trying to ease away the headache he was starting to develop.

“We are doing many tests to see what exactly has made the girl immune. We have yet to figure out what, but rest assured the answer will come soon,” The man turned back to Hoseok, impassive and callous brown eyes staring into his own, wizened and aged features the complete opposite of his own, “Major will remain on night duty,” there was a pause which allowed for him to disagree: he did not, “and the day guards will be changed accordingly. ”

The meeting didn’t last for much longer after that and he was eager to leave, only he was one of the last to leave as he figured he should stay behind and try to wring more information out of the man while he could. 

“Corporal,” he spoke, “may I ask what kind of tests you are doing to the subject?” It pained him to speak about her like she was subhuman, but he needed to know. 

The man looked up from his desk, shuffling the papers around and stacking them nearly before inviting him to sit in the chair in front of his meticulously polished desk. “This is a secret, Major, but I trust you will be able to keep it,” Hoseok nodded at the rhetorical question despite having no intention to follow through, “the girl… She is very resistant. She refuses to follow through with the procedures and harms the guards whenever they try to reach her. We have only been able to obtain a few blood samples while she had been sedated and it is currently being tested. It will take a couple more tests and samples before we figure it out, but we are very close, I can feel it.

"Oh,” Hoseok simply said before remembering something, “I have noticed that she had lost weight. Are the day guards not bringing her food? It wouldn’t be ideal for the subject to die from starvation before the cure is found.”

“She will not eat the food the day guards bring her, it is not a case of negligence on their part. We have tried many methods and they have resorted to force feeding her,” Hoseok was surprised at this information. She had only been willingly eating at night when he bought things down.

“Thank you, Sir, that’s I needed to know,” The man nodded, clasping his hand on Hoseok’s shoulder as he chuckled deeply. 

“I consider you my own flesh and blood, Hoseok. If you need anything, you are always welcome in my office,” Forcing a simper on his lips, he bowed and thanked him, turning away to leave before the smile transformed into a scowl and all he could think was a bitter 'fuck you.’

Hoseok had to wonder, since when had he become such a good actor?

Exiting the room, he walked down the corridor with no particular destination in mind. All he could think of was what he had just learnt and what he could now do with this information. 

He couldn’t stand the idea of them forcefully subduing her, couldn’t fathom the amount of entitlement it would require to take from someone without ever even considering them and their feelings. 

Lost in his own thoughts, he barely noticed that someone had stood in front of him, frantically trying to grab his attention without attracting it from others. Only when a furious whisper of 'hyung!’ reached his ears, did he look up and recognise the messenger’s hood: Taeil.

“Come with me and you can take the document from there,” Hoseok commanded, the others turning away as soon as he spoke. He glanced at Taeil apologetically - though he didn’t seem to be phased at all, following behind him quickly.

Since they were already in the faction A area, it didn’t take long for them to reach his room. It was a lot larger than the meagre space Taeil had, yet it was bare and lacked any character. That surprised Taeil a great amount, to see a room have nothing in it that was personal; it almost reminded him of the cell she stayed in.

“I was in a meeting,” Hoseok started, sitting on his single bed and feeling the mattress bounce under him. “Most of it was a load of boring shit, but they started to talk about faction X. They said they have been doing tests on her while she’s drugged and force feeding her. The corporal didn’t specifically say this, but I’m certain they hurt her when she doesn’t listen.”

Taeil managed to keep his face straight despite the urge to screw it up in disgust. How could anyone do such vile things to another living, breathing human being without any sense of remorse? 

Ever so slowly, Taeil sat down beside him and patted his leg gently, knowing that he would appreciate the gesture. If there was anything that Taeil had learnt over the course of the few weeks they had spent together since their turbulent official meeting, it was that Hoseok had an incredibly soft heart. Everything Hoseok was taught was something he internalised, something he wished to improve and make better even if it was near impossible. 

Under the cold head guard exterior he was forced to put on, Hoseok was nothing more than gentle and understanding. The contrast between reality and façade almost felt too fabricated to be true. 

“I’m still on the night shift, I don’t have the keys to her cell yet. I don’t think they would give it to me unless I was on the day shift anyway,” His hands brushed through his hair, lips curling into a frown as irritation towards the situation began to boil over, “I hate that I can’t do anything else. It’s so fucking frustrating. I’m a head guard, but I have as much power to help people as faction D does.” He could feel himself choking up, his anger melting into sadness and contempt as the lump in his throat seemed to grow larger by the second. 

Ever since he had been put into training, he had learnt to hide what he was feeling - to keep a blank face or be ridiculed and taken as nothing more than a joke. Hoseok wasn’t the stoic person he painted himself to be. He was someone who naturally wore their heart on their sleeve and it pained him to hide himself away like that when all he wished to be was unapologetically himself. When they were both stripped to their bare essentials, both Taeil and Hoseok were nothing more than two sides of the same rusted coin. 

A hand on his thigh snapped him out of his stupor, head lifting to look at the smaller man. Fingers curled lightly into the fabric of his trousers, trying to reassure him with their feather light touch. 

“Hyung,” Taeil spoke, his voice soothing and tranquil, like moon light reflecting perfectly in a pond, “it’s not your fault. You’re doing all that you can. Neither of us are condemning you for anything. God knows no other guard gives half of a shit about anyone but themselves,” Hoseok remained silent, willing his eyes to remain dry, “I didn’t trust you at first. I thought you were someone with ill intentions and you proved me wrong. You never gave me a reason to doubt you even though I thought that, *we* thought that. You’re genuine and we appreciate it so much.”

Hoseok inhaled, nodding his head thankfully as he placed his own hand overtop of Taeil’s, squeezing it gently. In that moment, Taeil had made eye contact and he felt his heart stammer, drawing the breathing from his chest as he took in the haunting beauty of the older man. Haunting as it was so misplaced within the impersonal cream walls around them both. 

Taeil had always been attracted to him, and yet, it wasn’t until this very moment, where every emotion he had ever experienced seemed to make his heart swell and expand, did he realise the magnitude of these feelings and attraction. 

“Thank you,” Hoseok breathed, meaning every syllable that hit the air and faded away, “that means a lot to me, Taeil-ah.”

His cheeks warmed, Hoseok’s fingers and palm engulfing his own hand as he itched to lace their fingers together - to act on physical affection he so badly wished to display. 

But he didn’t.

“She told me that she thought the same. That you were trying to gain trust and do something horrible after, but she told me she doesn’t believe that anymore. I believe you’re a good person, Hyung, you’ve made me believe you through your actions and respect for others,” Hoseok only nodded, thinking for a couple of moments. 

The silence seemed to stretch on, dragging for an eternity as Hoseok’s expression changed from upset to something more determined, more alive.

“I want to get us out,” he spoke ever so softly, like it was a dream teetering on a string threatening to snap at any moment, “I need to get us out. I can’t stand this shit hole, I can’t stand this government and their treatment of people. I’ve tried to deal with it for years and I can’t do it anymore.”

Taeil’s eyes widened, disbelief turning his features pale. “Hyung… You can’t be serious…”

It with the conviction with which Hoseok nodded that made him gulp, a spark igniting in the depths of his soul despite his rational mind telling him how foolish and headstrong the idea was. 

“I’m serious. Deadly seriously, Taeil-ah.”

"But we’re not immune,” He responded maybe a little too sharply, pursed maws chewed on with blunt teeth, “Only she would survive.”

“I know,” Hoseok replied, “I need time to think of something, but I swear we will get out of here. I can’t watch her wither away, I can’t watch you be controlled either,” Standing up, Taeil mimicked his action and looked up at him - warm brown hues enveloping his heart. 

Hands reached out for his, holding them every so softly. “You should go back to your duties now.” Taeil nodded, unable to disagree. The touch left him quickly, his limbs feeling cold and frigid. 

Taeil couldn’t leave so easily. “What are you thinking about?" 

Hoseok shook his head, smiling ever so lightly - a smile that might have looked carefree to the untrained eye. "Nothing, you don’t need to worry about it. I’ll give you my new time table in a couple of days. I’ll see you later, okay?”

There was nothing more to say. “Okay,” he said, leaving the room with his head lowered to avoid being seen while Hoseok remained near the bed, watching the door swing before it stilled and he groaned, falling backwards onto the mattress. 

His pulse was in his throat, thrumming against every capillary and cell. He could barely think clearly as it was, let alone when Taeil was around him, looking at him with his starry eyes that seemed to hold nothing but the galaxies above. Taeil’s eyes were sparkling, a wisdom within them that he could respect with untold stories that he ached to hear. 

It was the same with her, both of them making his thoughts muddle and his thoughts blur senselessly. Had he not been educated, he would have accused them of witch craft however, he had the sense to know that whatever he felt was self inflicted through no fault of their own. 

Hoseok groaned again, grabbing the pillow and shoving it into his face as he screamed into it. 

Just what on earth was he going to do?

* * *

The amber beams of light from the torch above his head lit up the entire area, dousing both Hoseok and the woman within the cell in a brilliant gold. He sat quietly, watching her chest rise and fall in clear, steady movements as she slept. He had brought food for her (now resting in the corner) and discovered that she had fallen asleep. Hoseok wasn’t mad, the opposite in fact, he was elated to know that she was getting some sort of rest. 

Flame flickering over his head, he glanced upwards at it, only to hear the knocking on metal echo throughout the corridors: three rapid knocks followed by one more a second later - the signal for Taeil arriving when the gate was locked. 

Getting up, he hurriedly opened it up, closing it behind Taeil to avoid anyone looking in and seeing. It was late and most people were asleep, even so it was better safe than sorry.

“Hi, Hyung,” He greeted, hand lifting as if to touch him before falling back to his side. 

“Hi, Taeil-ah,” Hoseok replied, guiding him towards their destination with nothing said, their only other company being their echoing footsteps. Only when they were back in front of the towering bars, did Hoseok speak again, sitting down against the wall while Taeil followed, no space between them. “She’s asleep. She had been since I came an hour ago.”

Taeil’s gaze turned from his face to the bed, eyebrows furrowing until he spotted her resting peacefully. “I wish I could give her my cloak. She needs it more than me,” He muttered while shifting, and as he did so, his thigh brushed up against Hoseok’s. 

When the elder didn’t fidget or outwardly chide him for touching him, Taeil gathered all his courage and rested his head on his shoulder, swallowing down any fears and letting himself indulge for once. 

Warmth from another person seeped into his skin for the first time in years, all he could hear was the blood rushing past his ears. Goosebumps littered his skin, hyper aware of Hoseok’s every breath as his head rested in the junction connecting his neck and shoulder. 

Soft hair brushed against Hoseok’s throat, tickling his skin ever so lightly as he inhaled and shakily exhaled. His heart was racing so fast it almost felt like humming, energy rushing through his veins as he glanced at Taeil, eyes wide and unsure. Taeil did not look up, his gaze centered on the bars and at the person beyond them - just out of reach. 

Tentatively, his own head rested atop of Taeil’s, cheek pressed against the soft brown locks that glimmered golden under the ambient torch flames. Although it really wasn’t much, to them both it was leaps and bounds.

Relationships were unheard of ever since the bases had become common place. There was no room for emotions like love and longing, things that showed humanity and not a desperation for survival. They had heard of love, had imagined it for themselves when the nights were lonely and seemingly never ending. And yet, it still felt like an unattainable dream instead of something tangible and incredibly real. 

Being happy was not a priority. People did not live to seek merriment; they lived to see the next day, to try and spend their life in a way that could be productive. Humanity were reduced to nothing more than mindless cattle. 

And yet, love promised to dance at their finger tips and glinted ever so slightly when they closed their eyes, the tiny spark almost daring to turn into something more.

Hoseok could feel him swallow, hand moving to cover his own, fingers lacing with his ever so timidly, like he was afraid of rejection. Taeil’s hand was smaller than his, fitting within his own easily and without struggle; his fingers wrapped around his, palms touching softly as it rested half on his thigh and half on Taeil’s. 

“What sort of tests do they do to her, Hyung?” Taeil was looking at her arm, the one that had been injured many times before and was now tucked under her body as she slept. “She always looks so sickly afterwards.”

“Blood tests. I’m not sure of how much they take from her, but I doubt they would be courteous enough to take a small vial,” Hoseok replied almost bitterly, looking as she shifted onto her side, her back now to them. 

Taeil’s fingers flexed, hold tightening significantly as his muscles trembled. “Have they made any progress?”

“No. All they know is that it’s part of her DNA.”

“Can’t we stop it?” He asked, lips curling into a frown, “they take but never give. She’s always so tired afterwards, I hate watching her turn into a zombie right in front of my eyes. She doesn’t deserve it.”

“I know, Taeil-ah, I know,” He had seen from the beginning just how much of a toll her mistreatment had affected her, how she no longer screamed when they grabbed her and moved her around like she was nothing more than a pathetic rag doll. Hoseok abhorred it, detested how he could do nothing except watch helplessly. “I’m going to get us out.”

Taeil’s head tilted up, doe eyes connecting with his as the sentiment from days ago was brought up again. Taeil had chalked it up to nothing more than a bluff, yet, as Hoseok repeated it with confidence in his tone, he was reminded of the promise again. 

“I wish there was a way for us to become immune too,” it was the only thing stopping them, the last few hurdles the size of the dome itself. 

“One day,” Taeil reassured, hand holding his tightly, fingers laced together so intricately that they almost seemed to be on mass. “We’ll do it one day.”

Unable to stop himself, Hoseok couldn’t help but chuckle - a sound that Taeil believed was one of the nicest he had ever heard, second only to the sound of her voice. “I should be reassuring you,” Taeil didn’t reply, only moving closer so that their sides were pressed together. “I’ll figure it out one day, I promise.”

Falling silent, they both found their attention on her again as she moved to her side. Crackling from the fire replaced any need for noise, both of them content to bask in the comforting presence of the others.

The universe narrowed until it was only them, the three people who had become joined by nothing more than circumstances. They were not special, weren’t people who would create an impact nor leave a trace in history that would be documented. And they had no desire to.

Hoseok thought, as Taeil’s soft breathing filled the air, matching the rhythm of her breaths, that he would give up his whole life as long as he could experience this tranquility for a moment longer and ingrain it within his spirit.

* * *

Hoseok’s routine was drilled into him, each step almost automatic as he clutched the bowl close to him, the torches were still shining, giving off the faintest amount of heat when he walked past them. Within the blink of an eye, he was in front of her cell again and squatting down to unlock the food hatch, the bowl pushed through with a tedious amount of care to avoid spilling over. 

“Hi,” He greeted, expecting to only get maybe a nod of acknowledgement in return, or perhaps even a whisper of a 'hello.’

Hoseok should have known nothing assume things, especially when it came to her. Instead, the corner of her lips curled upwards ever so slightly, her visage brightening immediately as she sat on the floor with the bowl situated within her lap. “Thank you, Hoseok-ssi.”

If there was ever a moment where Hoseok had lost full control of his entire body, it would have been now: with jittery limbs and an almost dizzying amount of shock and elation rushing through his body all at once. He wanted to shout, to scream and express his joy as loudly and as passionately as he could - though his voice remained at barely over a conversational tone. 

“I-,” His words glued themselves to the roof of his mouth, “you can just call me Hoseok. I don’t mind.”

She nodded, spoon gently raised to her parted lips as she swallowed the food quickly and hurriedly. "Taeil’s been speaking to me,” She began, voice level and holding more authority than he could ever genuinely have, “He’s told me of everything you’ve done and I also overheard you yesterday. He tells me that you’re trustworthy and I don’t doubt it. Even though I’ve acted unreasonably sometimes, you’ve never been anything but kind. I trust you and you have my respect, Hoseok. Please don’t make me regret it.”

She was so calm and level headed, her hand wrapped around the spoon as she continued to eat as though she hadn’t made his heart jump to his throat his pulse beating deafeningly loud in his ears. Then she paused and looked back up again, eyes meeting the swirling mahogany of his own. “I’ve never said my name to you. It’s (y/n), but I’m sure Taeil has told you anyway.”

She was right in both of the things she had stated. And although Taeil had never outright announced it as her name, he had let it slip a few times while speaking of her. However, that was far more impersonal than her saying it to him, trusting him with the knowledge. That, in a way, made him feel hopeful.

Hoseok sat down in front of the bars, as close to her as he could manage with the barrier between them. There was quiet as she ate, swallowing the gruel as fast as she could before the bowl hit the floor with a clink, spoon clattering within the ceramic. 

Her gaze was inquisitive, clearly wondering what was going on in his mind as he watched her, glossy hues misting over with both tears and relief. There was no shame as a tear slid down his cheek, hands not moving from the bars to wipe it away.

It should have been a spectacle, for her to see someone so powerful look so small, and yet she treated it like something normal, looked at him with not even an ounce of judgment. 

She came closer, hands extending and reaching through the bars. Ever so slightly, the gentle touch of her thumbs upon his cheeks made his skin prickle, the salty tears wiped away with such ease it was as though they had never existed. 

“You shouldn’t be upset, I thought my trust would make you happier,” Her hands dropped back down to her lap and he reached out instantly, holding them within his own. An eyebrow raised at his actions, though she didn’t move away - and for that, Hoseok was grateful.

“I’m not upset, the exact opposite of that actually. You have no idea how happy you’ve made me,” He breathed out, words almost melting into the quiet, “thank you.”

If he hadn’t been listening closely, he would have mistaken her slight laugh for another breath she was taking, the sound so perfectly concealed otherwise. Unwilling to let go of her warm hands, a similar kind of heat slowly spread its way through his insides - his eyes forming the shape of crescent moons.

“You don’t need to thank me. All you need to do is make sure I haven’t made the wrong decision to do so,” Hoseok had worked so hard to get her to view him as something other than a heartless guard, he would be endlessly foolish to give it up now.

His inhales were stuttered, mind racing as he wondered whether he should say something more before he decided it would be best to repeat what he said to Taeil the night before. “I want to get us out of here. I’m going to find a way to try and make Taeil-ah and I immune and then we’ll get out. I swear it.”

His fingers stroked her skin, wordlessly playing with her fingers in a strikingly similar fashion to Taeil. Her lips pursed ever so slightly, not breaking eye contact as she nodded slightly. Clearly, she did not believe him fully just yet. 

“It’s okay,” he reassured, plush lips curling into a reassuring smile, the dampness on his cheek glistening as light hit them, “it’s alright if you don’t think I can do it, I’ll prove to you I can.”

Shaking her head, her hands moved from his grasp, curling around the bars where his had been moments ago. “I do believe you. Despite how impossible I think it is, I’m choosing to believe in you, Hoseok.”

That meant more to him than any praise he has ever received from any higher up. She believed in him for the person he was, for who he had proved himself to be. She wasn’t swayed by the sash that adorned his shirt, didn’t care for any authority he may have held.

As she moved, the bowl clinked against the floor. The hatch was unlocked, the bowl pulled through and placed beside him. “I’m sorry I can’t get you any more food. They never save more than a bowl’s worth.”

“I don’t mind,” She waved off his concerns, the sleeve of her clothing sliding down to her elbow and showing the finger shaped bruises that littered the skin. Quickly, she pulled it back up and hid it from his eagle eyed watch. 

Respecting her wishes, he redirected his eyes from her arm to her face, watching in awe as a youthful glow seemed to envelope her features, softening them from the previous harshness of loneliness. Where blank hues had once bore into him, all that looked back at him now was life - a renewed urge to live and see what the future held.

Hoseok supposed that she reminded him of Taeil in that regard. They both had eyes that spoke everything for them, their lips not moving a millimetre yet entire stories were still communicated. 

“Taeil likes you a lot. I was able to tell from yesterday when you both were here,” She said suddenly and abruptly.

“You were awake?”

“Yes.”

“I hope we didn’t disturb you,” Hoseok began to apologise, but she had stopped him a single look and wave of her hand. 

“You didn’t,” came here reassurance, fingers brushing against his knee, “I always knew he was drawn to you, ever since he had first seen you. I just don’t think he ever realised the magnitude until recently.”

Hoseok understood full well the implications she was making, the interpretation as clear as glass. Neither of them were stupid or coy, knowing fully what she was saying was as actually as the night from the day.

His mind played recent images of them together, of Taeil’s comforting weight draped across him. He remembered the feel of Taeil’s hands within his own, likened it to hers and found that he didn’t have a preference; Hoseok enjoyed holding them both the same. 

All at once, realisation seemed to punch Hoseok right in the gut. The answer was so simple, so clear cut and perfectly linear that he felt rather stupid to not have understood what it was before; attraction. Hoseok liked them both. 

And yet, the answer was not so simple at the same time. It was shrouded in uncertainty and tainted by their grim reality. How could he be in love with two people at once if their lives didn’t allow for anyone but themselves? 

Then again, when did Hoseok ever care about following rules? He always found a way to bend them, regardless of whether it was for good or not. 

“I like a lot him too,” He replied, the syllables hanging in the air and in his mind, “I adore Taeil-ah.”

The corner of her lips twitched upwards, bobbing her head in agreement. She obviously felt the same, Taeil was hard to dislike, after all. With his soft gummy smile and peaceful demeanour, he was the picture of love and ease. 

“And we like you a lot too,” His hand cupped hers again, a startling amount of sincerity within his expression. “We both adore _you_.”

Unable to find the right words to express herself, she settled for a bashful squeeze of his hand, her pulse humming dutifully under his fingers - a reminder that they were all so painfully human.

“Thank you,” nails scraped lightly over his taunt flesh, tracing figure 8’s, “is he not coming today?”

Now that she had mentioned it, he had realised that Taeil was late. The knocks had yet to come and that was worrisome. Taeil was never late, arriving like clockwork at the same time every day. He had to, the need to be punctual a part of his very being from his duty as a messenger. 

However, he shook his head at her. “I don’t think so today. He might be running late,” Trying to sound hopefully, Hoseok knew how unsure he sounded, could taste the uncertainty in his words as it left his mouth feeling bitter. She saw through it immediately, of course, though decided not to speak of it at all. 

Instead, they did nothing more than converse softly for the rest of the night, her head eventually resting against the bars as she fell asleep, hand still within his and content written across her sleeping features. Hoseok’s heart expanded many sizes that evening, swelling with an emotion he couldn’t recognise yet still adored - the same kind that filled his chest when Taeil was around him. 

However, Taeil did not appear that night, not hide nor hair of his existence to be found within the dismal underground.

* * *

Every movement he made sent sparks of white hot agony down his spine, almost numbing his limbs as his shirt stuck to him, the barely scabbed wounds on his chest splitting open and letting crimson deep through again. The urge to curl up and cry clouded his thoughts, his jaw clenched so tightly he was at a danger of shattering his teeth. 

The cloak he wore didn’t make it any better, the heavy material pressing against his clothing and pressing it against his aching back and neck where the flesh was red and painful. Paper within his grip wrinkled, contorting under the force of his upset and unwillingness to do anything. 

Yet still Taeil walked, biting back the tears that bubbled to the surface as every step reopened another lashing. The night’s sleep he received barely did anything, the smarting of his body keeping him up past the appearance of the moon and stars. As much as he had wanted to go down and meet them both, he was able to do anything but lay on his back and stare at the ceiling. 

Throat dry and hands trembling, he continued to walk through the corridors, the hallways kept growing and growing, extending before his very eyes as he gazed down at his feet, vision swimming.

He just needed a couple of seconds to right himself, to try and focus on something other than the blood dripping down his sides and staining his clothing. 

Exhale. Don’t think about the pain in your front. Inhale. Don’t pay mind to the bruises on your side.

Eyes screwed up in concentration, he didn’t notice the presence of someone behind him until a hand was on his shoulder.

“Taeil-ah?” He turned around, the movement harsh and jerky. Hoseok’s eyebrows furrowed, easily picking up on his slouching and the barely contained wince threatening to make itself known on Taeil’s visage. “Is everything okay?”

He couldn’t even bring himself to yes, shaking his head. Tongue darting out to lick his dry lips, he swallowed. “I got caught trying to sneak out by another guard." 

Hoseok understood immediately, sympathy clear in his eyes, well aware that not many others were as dismissive as things as he was. "Come with me.”

“But-” He held up the paper he needed to give to the corporal, one that was taken from his grip quickly as Hoseok strode quickly and confidently to the end of the corridors, knocking on the door and disappearing within. He came back out soon enough, the door shut behind him as he made a motion for Taeil to follow - one he now couldn’t refuse. 

They were back again within Hoseok’s room, the bland walls suddenly so much more appealing than his own shared bedroom. Locking the door behind him, Hoseok pushed him to sit on the bed. The mattress was much softer than the one he had, the plush material bending to his whim as he bounced lightly on it.

“Can you take off your shirt for me please?” Taeil obliged, more than happy to be relieved of the material chaffing him. Hoseok opened a drawer, pulling out a first aid kit and setting it on the bed beside him. “This is going to hurt, I’m sorry. I need to disinfect everything.”

A clean cloth was brought out, dipped in the disinfectant as Hoseok tenderly pushed him onto his back after checking that there was nothing there. The majority of his injuries were littered around his front.

A stinging pain erupted whenever a pass was made over an open wound, his eyes screwed shut as he held tightly onto Hoseok’s hand, apologies whispered to him whenever his muscles so much as twitched. Hoseok was quick to finish up, the caked blood wiped from his skin and cleaned. A roll of pure white bandages was then slowly wrapped around his body, across his midriff and shoulders until there was no more injuries visible on his body. 

“Have this,” Hoseok dropped a small white pill in his hand and handed him a bottle of water, “it’s a painkiller." 

Taeil sat up, swallowing it hurriedly, his exhale full of relief as the water cooled his insides and rejuvenated his dry throat. 

The bed dipped next to him, Hoseok's weight pushing it down as fingers circled his wrist, tracing soft patterns on the skin as Taeil turned his head to look at him. There was a rawness in the hold, Taeil's heart picking up pace instantly as he saw the care in Hoseok's fleeting touch. 

"Hyung." Hoseok glanced upwards, offering him a small smile that Taeil couldn't resist anymore, his body moving on autopilot as his lips pressed to Hoseok's, a thousand words spoken in nothing more than a single gesture. 

Eyes closing, Taeil's hands cupped his face, soft lips melding with his as he tilted his head, his cheeks burning red as blood rushed around his body. But Hoseok didn't move away, giving him the courage to carry on, teeth softly pulling at his bottom lip as he continued to kiss Hoseok like he had the whole world to lose. Hands rested on his sides, careful not to touch any bandages, pulling away for only a moment before they were together again, emotions overflowing and spilling from the crack between their fingers, bursting through the seams of their hearts. 

Taeil's breaths were now soft pants, licking his lips as his fingers pressed into Hoseok's soft skin, thumbs brushing across his cheek as he took in every pore and freckle, committing it to memory.

He leant in again, lips pressing against his cheek and then softly grazing over towards his nose, littering butterfly kisses over every inch of skin that he could reach, that he could now touch unabashedly. 

"You're going to hurt yourself," Hoseok chided, but Taeil clearly couldn't have cared less, instead continuing his light ministrations, each action saying everything he could never verbally portray. 

"I'm already hurt. It doesn't matter." Fingers drew patterns on the elder's clothed thigh, small hearts detailed unconsciously. "I just want to stay here... With you."

"Taeil-ah," he said, clearly intending to try and sway him before a soft sigh followed, one full of resignation. "Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather rest in your own room? I can clear you of your duties."

It comforted him to know that he was respected to such a high degree, that Hoseok was willing to use his power to care for him so tenderly when he easily could have sat by idly. 

Taeil nodded. "I'm sure, I promise." A beat of silence followed where he mustered up the courage to speak once more. "Could I hug you?"

Laughter followed his question, though it wasn't mocking in the slightest. It was soft and full of delight, a hand reaching out for his own - squeezing it gently. "You kissed me and now you're asking for a hug?" He teased and Taeil swatted at him, mouth opening to protest. "Of course you can."

No time was wasted as he moved to envelope him in a hug, his arms barely reaching around Hoseok but he couldn't have cared less. In his embrace there was nothing else that mattered, only the sound of his heart in his ears kept him grounded to reality. 

Hoseok's hugs were warm, filled with nothing more than longing and comfort. Taeil felt at home - something he never thought he would have been able to say. His body was sturdy, strong arms holding him delicately yet securely. 

Every breath that hit the nape of his neck made his stomach flutter, arms wrapping that much tighter around him; he could have spent the rest of life within this one moment. He didn’t need to be anywhere else, didn’t want to be.

A hand moved to his back, small patterns - not dissimilar to the one’s he’d drawn earlier - were now being traced on his back, small stars and galaxies ghosting over his skin and over the bandages.

Minutes passed where they did nothing, basking in the feeling of the other before Taeil pulled back, not leaving Hoseok’s embrace but readjusting himself so he sat sideways on his lap instead. 

They didn't feel obligated to do anything further, touches fleeting and barely there before carding his fingers through Hoseok's ink black hair, smoothing strands between them.

"You're so pretty, Taeil-ah," Hoseok whispered, words breaking the tranquility dripping with honesty, spoken only for him and him only. "You're beautiful."

Red tinted the tips of his ears, hand moving to rest on Hoseok's. "You're so beautiful, too, Hyung," He mirrored, lifting his head from his shoulder to punctuate his statement with a peck to his chin. "You're stunning."

Joy made Hoseok’s features glow, the perfect picture of an angel laid out for him to witness in lonesome. “I’m glad you think so.”

“When I first saw you, I was so amazed at how a guard could be so pretty. If the world wasn’t like this now, you could have definitely been a model.”

It was the elder’s turn to blush, a subtle hue of rose colouring his cheeks and spreading to the base of his neck. “Then you would have modelled right by my side. I would have loved to have seen you in silk, something soft that matches your skin.”

“Don’t you wear silk?”

“No,” Hoseok admitted, “they offer it, but I don’t want any. I guess I should have accepted some, even if it was just to see you wear it.”

“You’re so cheesy.”

There was only a sheepish smile as a reply.

Sighing, Taeil relaxed against him, sinking into his chest as the pain from the injuries seemed to fade away into a white noise - though instead of normally squishy human flesh cushioning him, it was oddly rock like. 

“Are you wearing something?”

“...No?”

“It’s a little hard.”

Hoseok laughed again, taking his hand and pressing it to his clothed stomach, the feeling of hard muscle making him realise instantly what it was - embarrassment making his ears flush once more.

“Oh. I didn’t realise… Could I see?” It was curiosity that had the question spilling from his lips; Taeil had never seen a body like Hoseok’s before.

A nod was all Taeil needed to tug at his clothing, wanting him to take them off and Hoseok was only happy to oblige, unbuttoning his shirt and letting it fall from his shoulders, Taeil's eyes wide as he took in the hard and chiselled physique of the man beside him. "Oh my god," he muttered, barely loud enough for him to hear. Finger tips ran along his bare skin, feeling each muscle twitch from ticklishness as he ran his hand over Hoseok's stomach, tracing the line between his abs in awe.

"How do you keep so fit?" Taeil questioned between admiring passes of his digits over his skin, his words melting into the air. 

"I just like to work out when I can. It's stress relieving." He shrugged, a bashful smile blossoming on his visage - one that had Taeil's attention almost instantly.

"You're like a giant bunny, especially when you smile." 

Hoseok giggled, the sound making Taeil's heart feel like it was ready to explode. "I like that comparison. I have a bunny charm from my grandma actually."

"You do?" In all the time that they had spent together, they had never once spoken about their families or their lives beyond what it was now. They had to live in the present to survive. "Do you have anything else from her?"

He only shook his head, not saying another word and Taeil knew it must have still hurt. He knew how it felt, could always feel the ache deep within his bones whenever he thought about his parents. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Hoseok soothed, his head resting atop of Taeil's. "I had to give it all up when I was put into training. The only thing I could save was the charm." He inhaled, voice a little coarser than before. "I miss her, even now. It doesn't get easier but I suppose you learn to live with it."

Nodding, he began to button his shirt up again, the buttons slippery under his touch though the goal was still achieved. "She raised you, she had to have been an amazing woman." 'I want to tell her thank you,' was the last sentence that he meant to utter, but it was too honest, too real. 

"Thank you." Fingers returned to his hair again, playing with the strands and twirling them around his fingers. "Do you have anything from your parents?"

"I have some letters; I was taught how to read and write by them. A pen too, but the ink ran out a long time ago." 

"Ah, maybe we could find some ink for it. I don’t mind looking for you.” The gesture was sweet and he found himself smiling like a giddy child at the thought of it. But ink was rare, hidden away and sometimes used to try to light flames. There wouldn’t be any left laying around for Hoseok to pick up willy nilly.

“It would be nice if you could, but you don’t have to actively look for it.”

“I’ll try to anyway. I want you to find some."

Taeil chewed on his lip before looking back up at him. "Hyung, Hoseokie-Hyung," he said, getting his attention, his eyes focused on Taeil's lips, watching him form each word. "I- I think I'm in love with you," for a moment, Hoseok paused, his mind blanking as he registered the words he had just heard, mind working furiously to try and decipher it all - to reassure himself that what he heard wasn't a projection of what his heart yearned for. 

"Taeil…" Hoseok breathed, hands moving to stroke his cheeks..

"I mean it. I think I'm in love with you both," His breath seemed to halt in his throat, eyes misting over as he pulled Taeil closer to him, hugging him close to his body.

"I love you both too. I love you, Taeil-ah," Even if he was not yet intimately familiar with what his words entailed, he knew that the thoughts that blurred when he saw them, the way his day brightened instantly and he could be himself around them, was because of love. Pure, genuine, love.

And the time that passed by next was a blur, filled with simple moments that may have been insignificant to others, meant the most to them both.

They lay together, their bodies imprinted into the mattress as the world carried on moving - the small snapshot of amor visible to no one but them. 

Nothing needed to be said and nothing was said. If this was all the normality they could get, they would be foolish to not take advantage of it.

"I love you," The words were spoken quietly, the speaker and intended recipient unimportant as hands joined together, murmurs of adoration and tenderness melting away into pleasant memories and mirages for the future.

* * *

Taeil hurried down, knowing that he was a little late today because he had to run some extra duties. The layover time only left him a couple of minutes to get to her, rushing to her cell where she was already sat up, playing with a rock on the floor. 

“Hi,” He spoke, grabbing her attention as she flicked the loose rock away, standing up to get closer to the bars where he was sat. “Sorry I’m late today, I had to deliver another letter to someone two hours from here.”

“It’s okay,” she dismissed quickly, happy to have seen him at all. However, she was quick to notice, even under the dim light that surrounded them, splotches of red on his skin and neck, thin lines that had scabbed over yet looked to be deep. “Taeil, what’s this? Did you hurt?”

Her touch was warm against his skin, grazing over the marks and sending shivers down his spine. “On the day I was unable to come down, I was caught and punished for being out after curfew.”

Lips parting to form a soft 'o’, she barely skimmed over a lovebite that Hoseok had left behind, the red fading into a dull purple and green reminiscent of a bruise. “And this? Did an alien grab you?”

Chuckling at her joke, he shook his head and took her hand, pressing it to his throat where they had begun to heal. “Hyung did this.”

Realisation hit her suddenly, fingers curling around the skin before he held it tightly, playing with each digit as he guided it to his lap. 

“Do you feel happy with him?” The question held so much weight, the simple 6 words bearing the burden of the entire world. 

And yet Taeil dismissed it with nothing more than a nod, his small simper sincere. “Yes. I trust him a lot.”

“I’m glad,” he let go of her, leaning up against the bars so he could cup her face through them, eyes searching hers for even a trace of what he wanted to see. And as soon as he saw what he was searching for, his chest constricted painfully, wishing more than anything that he could rip the bars way from between them. “I’m so happy for you, Taeil, you and Hoseok.”

He found love in her eyes, the intricate emotion staring him back in the face. Even though she had never voiced it out loud, he knew their feelings were returned. She wasn’t the kind of person to be loud about it, speaking more through her actions than anything verbal. Every brush of her skin against theirs was always with meaning, the emotion that’s burned in her eyes always true to what she felt. 

She was like the fire that flicked above his head, so beautiful to look at yet dangerous. Taeil had no doubt her anger and wrath was a force to be reckoned with, especially after having seeing it first hand just before he spoke to her.

“Do you trust us?" 

"Yes.”

“Then do you believe us when we tell you we’re going to get out of here?” He had been skeptical, brushing it off whenever Hoseok spoke about it, but he now believed in it wholeheartedly. It was one of the few things giving him hope.

He saw her expression turn thoughtful before she nodded. “Hoseok asked me this before and my answer is still the same. Neither have of you have given me any reason not to believe you. If you say we will escape, then we will. I won’t doubt you.”

Pleased with her answer, he let his hand glide across her arms, stopping at her wrists. “All three of us,” he repeated.

Head tilting down to look at the way his fingers played with hers, she sighed. “Is Hoseok not coming today?" 

"I don’t know. He’s not supposed to be on duty today, I think he has a meeting with his superior, the corporal. I only have a few more minutes before change over,” Even if her outward expression didn’t change, he saw sadness, loneliness ready to clutch her again within its cold grip. 

“Where will you go after this? To Hoseok’s room?” He nodded, reaching up to pet her hair, smoothing the baby hairs on her forehead. “Stay safe, Taeil.”

Lips curled into an easy going smile, arms winding around her back to pull her into the best hug he could manage. Despite the cold bars pressing against his cheeks, chilling his skin, he held her tightly - wishing and wanting for some much more than that pathetic scraps they were tossed. 

“I will,” came his reply, followed by a quieter “can I tell you something?" 

"Of course.”

“I love you,” He said and it reverberated off the walls despite the near whisper it was said in, “ _we_ love you.”

Her expression twisted, her fingers digging into the fabric of his cloak. Taeil had never seen her look so vulnerable, like what he said could make or break her spirit. She gulped audibly, tongue wetting her cracked lips as her eyebrows furrowed and twisted together, painting the picture of helplessness. “Really?” Her voice nearly broke, “do you really?”

Taeil nodded, eyes roaming over every inch of her face, across every dip and curve: from the slant of her nose down to the curve of her cupids bow. “Yes.”

“I-” Words began to fail her, nothing able to correctly portray the magnitude of her thoughts, 

“It’s okay, you don’t need to reply. You feel the same, right?” She nodded and that was all the response he needed, hues flickering to her lips as his thumbs brushed over the corners of her mouth. “That’s all I need to know.”

Reluctantly, he pulled away, glancing at the corridors. “I have to go now. Try to sleep, angel,” The pet name rolled off his tongue easily, his resolve to use more only solidifying with her bashful smile. 

“Bye, Taeil-ah.”

“Bye,” With one final look over his shoulder, he ran out of the underground and straight to Hoseok’s room where he waited patiently to hear the findings of the meeting.

Meanwhile, Hoseok could feel his insides curl with disgust with being in such close proximity to this man. He could clearly see the marks of age on his skin, his beard that grew unevenly and the smile he directed towards him because he believed Hoseok actually gave a shit about him. Perhaps he was being two faced, but that was no different from normal. The corporal also had two faces, as did many bodies of the government - honesty was not a moral obligation in that line of work. 

“So, Sir, what exactly are your plans for the girl? You told me last time that you were doing blood tests,” He nodded, shuffling through files before pulling out two sheets of paper. 

“Yes. We’ve now managed to find out what exactly in her DNA makes her immune. We believe the cure is blood borne, a mutated antigen on her blood cells that rejects the virus and kills it,” Hoseok nodded, trying to wrap his head around the information she was given. 

“So wouldn’t it be possible to give other people her blood and make them immune?” The papers in his hands were placed in front of Hoseok, detailing reports of what had been tested. 

On the document it spoke of two different subjects. One marked X1 and the other X2. 

“That’s what we thought too, Son. X1 had the same blood type as her and X2 had a different one. We gave them both half a pint of her blood and waited to see if it would do anything. What do you think was the result?” He asked Hoseok, who frowned and tried to think of a rational conclusion.

“The one with the same blood type survived?” The man shook his head, pointing to the status of life - deceased.

“They both died within a month. So we did more tests, samples of other blood types and of the same one. However, this time, the same blood type didn’t reject hers. Some of the different blood types accepted it, but many didn’t. We thought it may have been a fluke with the first subject and tried again, they still died but it took much more time,” he flipped over the page, pointing at a graph of success rates. “The rates for acceptance are much higher for the same blood type than the ones that aren’t. Though there was still some success in the labs. Nearly 85% of the time, the same blood type will accept and and average of 32% for dissimilar.”

Hoseok chewed on the inside of his cheek, staring at the graph. “Forgive me, Sir, but how would you distribute this so it works for everybody?" 

The man looked at him sternly for a moment. "By impregnation." 

Unable to stop his look of disgust, he coughed quickly and smoothed it out into a more neutral one that covered it up. "I’m not sure I understand, Sir.”

“The children will have compatible blood types that we can then use. Children with different blood types can be used for more people and then they will pass the gene on since it’s hereditary,” Hoseok felt sick to his stomach, his insides churning grotesquely as bile threatened to make its way up.

“Who would be fathering the children?" 

"Well,” he curled his fingers under his chin, looking at Hoseok, “I have considered you as a candidate. You’re physically healthy and you have no abnormalities.”

He couldn’t breathe, feeling so incredibly small under the man’s gaze. 

Taeil fell silent, clearly thinking that same things as Hoseok was. “But… It’s still a chance, Hyung. If we never do anything then we’ll never get out of here. It’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know, Taeil-ah. I don’t want anything to happen to us if we reject it. I don’t know if it’s worth it right now,” he inhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a moment before standing up. “I’ll go and talk to her. She’s the one who’s blood we would have to use.”

He stood up also, reaching out to pull him into a hug, chin resting on his shoulder as he pat Hoseok’s back, holding him tightly as though he was trying to erase his worries with a single touch. “A 1% chance is better than nothing, but asking her first will help us reach a decision. We have hope, Hyungie. Let’s not stomp it out before it can grow.”

Hoseok nodded, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as he willed the universe to give them this. He stayed within the embrace for a few more seconds before pulling away. “You should go to your room, baby. I’m going to go down for my shift now." 

Even though Taeil clearly wanted to be there for the conversation, he knew there was something else more intimate that Hoseok hadn’t told him. He was willing to respect their privacy. "Okay. I’ll see you both tomorrow?”

“You’ll see us tomorrow,” He confirmed. Fingers brushed against his arm one last time before he disappeared through the door, disappearing into the shadows like he always did.

And now was the even bigger challenge. Hoseok had no idea how on earth how he was supposed to tell her what he had heard. He hadn’t been this nervous for a long time and he hated the anxiety forming in his gut. 

'You need to tell her eventually. Tell her now,*’ His thoughts ran in his head and he gave in quickly, his will hardening as he walked towards the gate of the underground, the familiar clanging almost not registering in his mind. 

Moving almost robotically, he realised his hands were trembling only when he had reached her cell and he had looked down at them to hold the bars. 

“Are you okay?” Her voice startled him, flinching lightly as he saw her watching him. “You’re shaking, Hoseok.”

“Oh,” He mumbled, barely able to vocalise a word, “I didn’t realise.”

It was a blatant lie and he knew she saw straight through it. Thankfully, she didn’t say anything and only walked towards him, sitting on the floor on her knees beside him, hand reaching through the bars to pat his thigh. “Taeil said you were in a meeting. Was it about irrigation systems again?” The corners of his mouth twitched at her poor joke, reminded of the hour long meeting he sat through where they did nothing more than discuss how to water crops - educational but completely dull. 

“Thankfully no,” Eyes darting towards his projected shadow on the floor, he let his fingers drag across the outline, “it was about you actually. I found out how to gain immunity.”

The silence felt so much more reliable, freezing the air within his lungs as he inhaled the ice cold quiet. There was shuffling and then there was a quiet sigh, and almost reluctant essence behind the sound. 

“They said your blood, if accepted by whoever receives it, can make a person immune. But it hasn’t worked on any humans so far. They said people with the same blood type are more likely to survive whereas ones with a different one are at an almost 70% chance of dying,” The words grated his throat, feeling like knives stabbing at his insides. “But really, that’s the least of what I care about. They-” the bile churned violently, the contents of his stomach threatening to empty, “they wanted to get you pregnant so the child’s blood could be compatible with other people too and they would have a higher chance of accepting the blood.”

He didn’t want to look at her, couldn’t bring himself to see the expression that would settle on her countenance; whether it was blank or full of disgust, Hoseok couldn’t look. 

“Oh,” was all she said, could manage to say. “I- I don’t know what to say to that." 

"Neither do I, baby,” Hoseok replied, “but I won’t let them. They suggested me as a candidate and the corporal said he would give me time to think about it. I’ll keep stalling, I won’t allow them to take advantage of you like that.”

“I know you won’t. You have my unadulterated trust, Hoseok-ah. The government thinks of no one but themselves and it’s only a matter of time before they collapse under their own selfishness,” Agreeing wholeheartedly with her, he worked up the courage to look at her, immediately losing his breath at the smile that stretched across her lips - so genuine and so full of purity. 

A rush of heat tinted his cheeks and ears red, tears welling up in his eyes before he had seen the slightest chance of stopping them. “Thank you. I say this a lot but it really means so much when you say that.”

Skin brushed against his cheek, wiping away the droplets that spilled over. “It’s okay, you don’t need to keep thanking me or Taeil. You treat us like equals so we’re doing the same. But, I want to know about my blood. How can I make you immune?”

“It’s complicated. I don’t even know if it would work because the chances are so low. If we reject your blood, we will more than likely die.”

“What’s the chance of it?”

“32% chance of success.”

“Then that’s good enough, don’t you think? 1% would be worth it in this world. Immunity is the only thing left between us and getting out of here,” He chuckled lightly, instantly reminded of how Taeil had said that exact same thing. “If we worry about the what if’s and the chances of it going wrong, you won’t think of how it’ll go right.”

Nodding, her pulse beat evenly under his finger tips, blood rushing past in a comforting way. “You’re right, but I’m scared. I don’t want to lose anyone, not when we’re so close.”

“You won’t. The universe has to give us this,” Her hand grabbed his, pressing his fingers to the skin of her neck where he could easily feel each beat. “We’re both going to be alive and breathing. I will happily give you anything you need, all you need to do is ask me.”

“I’ll have to ask Taeil. I won’t do it without him,” She accepted that answer easily, arms reaching through the bars to wipe away the stray, inky strands of hair from his forehead, her touch tender. 

“We’re one step closer, Hoseok-ah,” She spoke and that phrase echoed continuously in his mind. 

One step closer to the end that seemed near enough to touch.

* * *

They sat in a circle, knees touching either the bars of the cell or each others, or in Taeil’s and Hoseok’s case, both of them at once. Tension and anxiety was thick in the air though not acknowledged, ignored in favour of the task at hand. 

What they were doing was incredibly risky and unsafe in multiple ways. Yet their options were limited and they barely had any choice in what they could do. 

“Are you sure you still want to go through with this, Taeil?” She asked, aware that they might be having second doubts.

However Taeil was firm and unmoving in his beliefs even if he was scared beyond comprehension of what could happen. They all knew that the likely outcome would be death, that they would not live past this month. And somehow, they were still willing to do it. 

“Either I live or die. Either option is okay with me, Angel,” Taeil reassured, his simper easy going and betraying none of the gut wrenching worry he felt. 

Hoseok merely nodded in agreement, praying to everything god and deity he could think of that this would work. Carefully opening up the sack he had put the stuff in, he passed her everything through food slot.

“I’m sorry I can’t make this more hygienic,” Hoseok spoke, watching her wrap the strip of cloth around the top of her arm tightly, veins bulging against her skin. 

“No worries, I would rather this than be unconscious for it,” They didn’t speak on her comment, knowing exactly what she meant and what she was referencing. “Do I just-” Slowly, she poked the needle into her vein, barely even wincing from how accustomed she had become. Taeil had to look away, unable to watch as she held it in place, arms flexing ever so slightly before relaxing as she began to draw the blood, pulling on the end large syringe out as it began to fill up with blood. 

They didn’t need too much of her blood, just a syringe full each instead of half a pint like had been suggested. Hoseok had done some more research and found it was much safer to use smaller amounts than such a large amount I’m one go. Even if it increased their chances of survival by 10%, he would take it.

It didn’t take long for the first one to fill up, pulled out of her skin and the needle replaced, shoved back into the sack. In a way, it was therapeutic watching the once clear body of the syringe fill up with a crimson red until it was full.

Once the second one was full and cleaned, she removed the cloth from the top of her arm and tied it around as a make shift bandage around where she had pierced herself.

“I-i’ll do it first,” Taeil spoke, the possibility of death flashing behind his eyes every time he closed them. Like he had iterated earlier, it was live or die and at this point, either one was just favourable as the other. 

Hoseok nodded, gently rolling up his sleeve and taking the first syringe, searching around for the being in the crook of his arm before pushing the needle into him - whispering apologies as it settled inside his skin. 

Gingerly, the blood was injected pushed into him. The end of the syringe moving further and further down until there was no red left within it; not even ruby coated the sides of it. 

The needle was extracted, placed back into the cloth sack as another strip of fabric was used to stop the bleeding. One down, just Hoseok to go. 

Taeil took the syringe this time, pulling Hoseok’s arm so it lay flat on his lap. “It’s here, right?” His thumb pressed against the same spot on Hoseok’s arm and his, able to feel his life force pump through his veins and bring warmth to every cell in his being. 

“Mhm,” he reassured, the needle slowly entering his skin with just as much care as he had used, perhaps even slightly more. “Okay, that’s good, Taeil-ah.”

Smiling a little at the praise, he eased the rest of the blood into his veins, her life intermingling with his. The needle was removed, placed back with the others and another cloth stained from stray droplets of red that bubbled to the surface.

Brushing down her clothes, she smiled at them both - a slightly more common occurrence now. “Feel any different?" 

"Not yet,” Taeil hummed, pulling his sleeve back down to try and ignore the fact that his heart was racing from anxiety. “It’ll take a week maybe for any symptoms to show up, right?”

“That’s right,” Hoseok confirmed, also covering up his arm before watching her shuffle even closer to the bars, practically leaning against them as she reached out to them both, arms winding around their waists as best she could. They soon mimicked her actions, holding her through the cell and wishing they could have been together like normal people in love. 

“I want you guys to stay healthy. You have to promise me you won’t die, I-I care about you both too much to see something like that happen,” The words were choked, spoken with fear and worry for the future. There was no sugar to coat them, every syllable as real and as tomenting as the last.

Taeil closed his eyes, his fingers gripping the fabric of her clothing tightly. “I promise. We won’t die,” and the weight of that promise seemed to crush him, his shoulders slumping as he shrunk within himself - unsure of whether that promise would ever be fulfilled. “I promise,” he repeated, unsure if he was trying to convince them or himself.

* * *

That was the very essence of humanity; being unsure about things and yet diving into them head first in the pursuit of knowledge that some may call pointless and foolish. Hoseok had been thinking the exact same thing, and even though he himself hadn’t noticed anything different apart from his slightly more elevated heart rate over the past 2 weeks.

Taeil, however, did not seem to be as lucky. His movements were weaker, skin waxier and eyes starting to become sunken. His breathing was wheezy, rattling with an eerie similarity to that of death’s own call. 

Hoseok couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe that yet another person he loved was dying right in front of him. 

Using his body to support Taeil as they descended the stairs, he ignored how he could feel his ribs under his fingers when before it was lithe and taut muscle. 

As soon as they could be seen by her, her voice rang through the corridors, not loud at all here still enough to make Taeil wince. Hoseok’s heart was shattering, crumbling to pieces in his chest as his eyes stung barely swallowing down every emotionally he could manage to feel. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” She apologised, reaching out to stroke his cheek, once semi-healthy strands of black hair now falling limply between her fingers, the shine disappearing from his features and his locks. 

“It’s okay,” It wasn’t. It truly wasn’t and that’s what made their insides constrict until it felt too painful to breathe. 

Taeil wasn’t the bubbly man he was just a few weeks ago, now seeming to resemble a walking corpse: and they both knew, in the deepest depths of their hearts, that there was nearly no chance of recovery. For them and for Taeil.

“How do you feel, Taeil-ah?” She questioned, wishing the answer could have been something worthwhile. 

He sat down quickly, the paleness of his skin so ghastly and grotesquely clear. His lips were cracked, far more than normal and he didn’t bother to swipe his tongue over them anymore, his mouth stinging painfully whenever he did so. “I’m alright,” He spoke, lying right through his teeth, his head resting on Hoseok’s shoulder as the elder stroked his sides - wishing he could ease some of the pain.

Taeil coughed, breath whistling as he did so before his eyes opened once more and he was watching her with hesitance. “You guys will get out of here, okay? You can’t be held back by me.”

Hoseok frowned, turning to look at him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m going to die, isn’t it obvious? Hyung, you’re both immune now and all you’re doing is stalling when you could have gotten out by now,” Taeil responded, almost coming across as bitter had it not been for the sadness evident in his eyes. “You shouldn’t concern yourselves with me when I’m only slowing you down now.”

The silence turned deafening, ringing in their ears before the bars rattled loudly, her knuckles losing colour as she gripped them as tight as she could - startling them both. “Don’t you dare say anything like that, Taeil. I won’t sit here and listen to you speak like you’re going to die and leave us behind. You won’t die, I won’t let you die,” Her frustration at the world boiled into anger unfairly directed towards Taeil, “you’re stupid to believe we would ever leave you behind. Either we all go or none of us go.”

The aggression reinforcing her words shocked him into silence, his hands running through his hair as he willed himself not to cry - his body uncaring of his wishes and letting tears roll down his cheeks regardless. Sticky trails of salt clung to his skin, trying to wipe them away but only ending up having them spill through and coat his fingers.

“I don’t- I don’t know what to do. Everything hurts all the time and I can’t breathe. I don’t want to leave you, I want to be with you both and I want to live a normal life so badly,” His sobs began to echo, words stumbling over each other and becoming near incoherent. “I want you both to be happy and I’m not making either of you happy. I know you’re sad and tired of watching me be unable to go downstairs or walk by myself. What can I do? Nothing.”

It was terrifying watching him break down, Hoseok barely able to hold back his own sniffling as he petted his back, running his fingers along his protruding spine. “You won’t die and you do make us happy,” she didn’t speak, hands falling to her sides as regret washed over her. 

“I didn’t mean to get so angry, I’m really sorry,” She mumbled, barely able to reach his thigh when stretching, “maybe… Maybe you should go and sleep for tonight. It’s getting late and you should rest.”

And even though Taeil was prepared to argue, Hoseok was already getting up, holding his hand as he pulled him up towards the gate. “You should rest,” A fluttering kiss was pressed against his cool forehead, lips lingering there for a moment as he tenderly wiped away the moisture on Taeil’s cheeks. “You’ll get better soon, baby, I promise.”

Hoseok had said it with such confidence and assurance that Taeil couldn’t bring himself to state otherwise - merely nodding as he headed to his room to sleep.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg. The month progressed and Taeil only got worse, barely able to get up out of his bed until he was forced into the poor excuse of an infirmary. The walls were once once white, now stained grey with age and lack of maintenance. 

Hoseok sat on the pathetic stool that groaned under his weight, his hands enveloping Taeil’s. 

“Hyung. If I die, you have to go. They’ll somehow find out you’re immune and force you into the same conditions as her, you can’t do that,” He struggled with his words, coughing right after as his sparkless eyes met Hoseok’s. 

“We can’t leave you,” Hoseok reiterated for what felt like the millionth time, his stubbornness revealed very quickly. “She’s been asking about you every day.”

Taeil turned his head away, staring at the ceiling. “Is she eating well?”

“She is. I bring her extra whenever I can too.”

“That’s good.”

“Taeil-ah,” He started, hold becoming firmer, “I know you don’t believe it, but you’re going to get better. And when you do, I’ll get the keys.”

“Hyung…”

“I’ll get the keys when you get better,” He repeated, speaking it into the world, “and only then will we all escape.”

Unable to argue, especially with Hoseok, Taeil only nodded. 

A few more minutes passed, nothing more said on that subject as a few more stories of what she had said and what Hoseok had seen on his occasional day patrols. He spoke until Taeil was fast asleep, finally looking peaceful with no wrinkles creasing his young features. Placing his hand down onto the bed, he pulled the covers up to his chin and left after kissing his cheek, praying that he would get better despite all the odds fate had put against them.

Hoseok made his way to his room, slamming the door behind him as he fought the urge to scream and swear. Throwing open the drawer, he found the large duffle bag he had stowed away years ago. 

Everything in his mind went blank, the drawers and closet doors, the hinges creaking under the force he used. Anything of use he could find, he was putting it into the back: medical supplies, clothing, bandages, dry food and tins of fruit he had been given but never had the appetite to eat. 

The bag was quick to be filled, tucked under his bed as Hoseok fell onto the bed, his body filling the mattress and he gulped. Hot tears rolled down his face as he laid down, the weight on his chest suffocating him - squeezing his lungs and threatening to pop them under the pressure.

His fingers reached under his pillow, pulling out the small brass bunny charm and holding it to his heart. On the back there was an engraving that he traced over with the pads of his fingers. 

'The animal that thrives in green. Outrun it all.' 

A possession of his grandmother that his mother had given to him, told him to treasure and keep close to him. And he had, keeping it with him for all these years and keeping it safe, always meaning to make it into a necklace but never quite having the time to do so.

He swallowed, placing it in the back atop of the clothing, folding it and making sure there was nothing that was out of place before closing his eyes, wiping at his face.

The universe had to give them this. It had to. There was no way they could keep getting dealt the wrong cards.

* * *

Hoseok hadn’t the heart to go down to visit her for the past few days when she was awake, purposely waiting until she was asleep to deliver her food before watching her for a while and heading back up - either to his room or to Taeil. 

Guilt ate away at his insides every time he saw her asleep, clearly having waited for him every time with how she leant against the bars, fingers wrapped loosely around them. 

He sighed, pushing open the door to the infirmary and hearing to Taeil’s section. There was no one else there apart from him, faction D left to die and the others either staying in their room or had already passed away. Hoseok sincerely hoped Taeil wouldn’t join that statistic. 

Barely any doctors were here either, always seeming to disappear whenever he appeared - something he was incredibly glad for. He couldn’t stand their blatant shock and staring, like he was supposed to be an emotionless statue that didn’t care about others.

Yet, as he approached this time, he noticed something very different. Instead of Taeil laying down and looking on the brink of collapse, he sat up, stretching lightly before he saw the curtains being pushed aside.

“Taeil-ah?” Hoseok spoke, voice raising into a question at the end of it, “are you feeling better?”

Ever so slowly, Taeil nodded, reaching for the glass of water at the bedside table and swallowing it down, stray droplets slipping past his lips. “I feel a lot better than a few days ago.”

Hope lit up his eyes once more, instantly moving onto the bed and sitting beside him, bringing him closer to him in a hug, the warmth finally returning to Taeil’s body after weeks of claminess.

“Really?”

“Mhm. I can walk around for a little while now. I think in two weeks time I’ll be better,” His smile, however weak right now, was the most stunning thing Hoseok had ever seen. He could have cried, happiness shining through each of his pores and creating a glow deep within his skin that rivalled the sun’s deep rays. “I kept my promise.”

“You did! You really did keep it,” Barely able to contain his excitement, tender kisses littered his skin, peppered all across the younger’s face as he giggled - unsure of how to express himself. “I’m so proud of you. I knew you could make it through.”

Taeil basked in the praise, head tucked under his chin as he listened to the strong beat of his hyung’s heart. “We’re all going to make it through. Just two more weeks and I promise it’ll be over, Hyung.”

“I hope so, Taeil-ah,” He spoke, closing his eyes before he was back in front of her cell again, rattling the cage with as much force as he could to wake her up, more than elated to be sharing the news. “Baby, get up! I have to tell you something!”

At first her features contorted into annoyance from being woken up so rudely, though it rapidly melted into a more unreadable expression as she realised it was Hoseok making the racket. He expected her to be irritated with him, especially after disappearing for some many days without a word, but that seemed to be the last thing on her mind. 

Shooting up, she practically ran over to him, checking over him for anything that might have happened. “Hoseok? Hoseok-ah? What’s the matter?”

“Taeil! Baby, he’s getting better!”

She stopped, going completely still. "He-he is?" 

He didn’t blame her for her shocked reaction, having also been so sure that he would have to see yet another person he loved be buried. Instead, he held her hands, holding them as tightly as he could to make up for everything that stood between them. 

"He is,” The confirmation had her beaming, returning his tight grip. “Baby, we’re so close,” whispering the words felt unreal, mind struggling to process the enormity of the meanings behind it.

“Hoseok-ah… I can’t believe it.”

“Neither can I, but he is, I swear,” She laughed, the sound a mixture between a sob and a delighted squeal.

“Oh my god. We’re so close. _We’re so close._ One more step and we’re free.”

He nodded, not bothering to hide his cheek splitting smile either. “One step closer, baby.

* * *

The two weeks that followed seemed to drag yet also go perversely fast, seeming to speed by on some days and drag endlessly on others. Every day that ticked by set his pulse racing, the minutes going by until he was left with nothing. 

His body trembled unnoticeably, shaking with adrenaline that coursed through his veins at high speeds. Only a few moments ago, he had given Taeil the key to his room and instructed for him to get the duffle bag under his bed and make his way down to the underground while he headed to the corporals office. 

Hoseok should have felt guilty for how he was playing this man, and still he felt not even an ounce of remorse as he played him like a fiddle. Beautiful symphonies were being created from his deceit - a fair trade in his eyes. 

As soon as he knocked, the door opened and he was ushered in, shoved towards the centre of the room near the desk that Hoseok had spent too much time sat around.

"I’m glad you made up your mind, Son. You’re truly doing the best for humanity with this,” The Corporal looked as proud as could be, pride lacing his wizened features as he patted Hoseok’s back. “You finally saw reason and I’m assuming one of them was for the mark you’ll leave on history.”

“You’re too kind to me, Sir,” Hoseok smiled, genuine for all the wrong reasons, “I thought about all you said and decided that if I wasn’t going to do it for the rest of the generations to come, then I should at least do it to make you proud.”

The man chuckled, reaching into a locked drawer and pulling out a syringe as well as a set of keys.

“That’s very good to hear,” The man replied, moustache brushing against his top lip, “though I’m sure you also have seen the girl’s beauty? A little taunt here and there, but I’m sure you’ll make do.” The statement was followed by a lecherous smirk and Hoseok only just held back his visible disgust. “Here you are.”

His eyes zeroed in on the keys, the mass in his palm seeming a lot lighter than the weight they were really worth. “What is the syringe for, Sir?”

“If she’s getting a little too rowdy. You know how women are, Hoseok,” He said it like there was some kind of inside joke between them and that couldn’t have been further from the truth. “Hopefully you don’t have to use it.”

“Thank you,” He rolled the metal keys between his fingers, heart racing while he kept a stone cold visage, “can I request some privacy for at least an hour?”

“Of course, my boy! Of course! We wouldn’t want to interrupt something so delicate." Breathing a sigh of relief, he left after another round of worthless praise and pats on the back for being so 'valiant’ and 'selfless.’

'Yeah right,’ he thought, 'fuck all of you.’

Time seemed to slow to a standstill, hyper aware of every small thing that moved or passed him by. Each mark on the wall became imprinted on his mind; the dirt on the floor that was tracked by the guards as they walked; the dents in the wooden doors as people opened them with too much force. Hoseok should have began to miss them already, but he couldn’t have cared less.

Pausing to take a deep breath, clearing his thoughts and stopping himself from shaking so much, he finally reached the gate and opened. Very quickly, it struck him that it would be the last time he would be doing so and a smile graced his lips. 

Descending the stairs quickly, he noted that they now had 57 minutes to make their escape. 

His pulse could be likened to that of a hummingbird, beating so fast under his skin that it was barely even distinguishable individual beats. Electricity sparked under his skin as he ran, the air resistance from his speed nearly making his eyes water. Within a minute or two, he reached the cell and spotted Taeil with the bag looped around his shoulders and securely on his back, using the buckle to hold it around his front. 

He looked much better than he did before, the fullness returning to his cheeks and his ribs a little less obvious than before. Of course, he hadn’t been able to fully regain all his muscles, thought they knew he would be quick to do it. 

Barely even nodding, he shoved the key into the lock and fiddled with it, multiple breaths hitching as it click and fell to the floor - almost in slow motion. Three pairs of eyes followed its descent, barely even flinching as it clattered loudly. 

Both Taeil and Hoseok watched her reach out towards the door, knuckles turning pale as she held onto the bars that constricted her for so long. Eyes enlarged and full of uncertainty, she stared up at Taeil who nodded encouragingly. 

Her hold loosened, slowly pushing the door open and ignoring the creaking of the unoiled hinges. It moved slowly, swinging in its place, but soon she was slamming it open - the brightest and most relieved smile they had ever witnessed stretching itself across her maws.

They were static, the only further movement they made was of their eyes following her as she moved closer to them. 

"Can I-,” she gulped thickly, eyes watering, “can I hug you?” They didn’t bother nodding, pulling her into a hug themselves, finally able to touch her without any barriers. She was warm, heat seeping into their skin as they tried their hardest to make up for every second they had ever been separated. 

Gentle kisses were pressed to her head, lips against every surface they could reach as she giggled at their ministrations - souls filling with content before she pulled away. “We should leave quickly or we’ll run out of time.”

Taeil moved quickly, picking up the spare cloak he had brought and tying it around her neck securely, the hood pulled up to cast a shadow around her face. “There.”

“Hold this for me,” Hoseok handed her the syringe, placing it within her palm and curling her fingers across it, “keep it with you, just in case. I have a gun with me.”

Their anxiety was skyrocketing, creating a thick air of tension that remained unaddressed as she followed them out of the underground. Everything looked the same even if it didn’t feel anything like before. The cracks in the walls were so much more prominent and the dust in the air far easier to see. 

Her fists clenched and unclenched, something Hoseok noticed quickly, his hand slipping into hers to stroke her knuckles before letting go as they reached the top of the stairs. 

They walked quickly. Not too fast to cause suspicion, but just enough speed to tell other people that they weren’t to be disturbed. Especially after spotting them with Hoseok. They looked away and minded their own business. 

Taeil felt like his every movement was being watched, eyes boring into his back and analysing him. Shoes squeaked loudly in his ears, only drowned out by the sound of blood pumping rapidly within his veins, his nerves running so high he felt slightly faint. So much was at stake during this seemingly casual escort, his hues flickering to her figure that apparently was confident and unbothered, though if you knew her well enough and looked closer - you could see anxiety within every twitch of her muscles. 

Hoseok remained calm, guiding them both through the winding corridors and past the Corporal’s office. For a solid second, his fingers brushed against theirs and they found refuge in that contact.

However, the most astounding part of this was when Hoseok unlocked the door, the gears twisting and turning loudly before the rush of cool air hit them all at once. While Hoseok was used to it, neither she nor Taeil ever had the opportunity to get outside the four walls of the base very often. 

Her jaw hung open ever so slightly, hair on the back of her neck rising as the chill hit the back of her throat, lighting up her nerves and making her shiver. And yet, she giggled. Soft peals of laughter slipped past her parted lips, eyes glowing with delight. 

“I can’t believe I’m finally seeing the outside again,” She exhaled, breath only just forming little clouds that dissipated quickly. “I haven’t been outside in so long,” came here soft whisper, their insides melting as she kicked the loose stones underfoot. 

Gravel crunched underfoot, sounds echoing as they exited the building and began to walk towards the gate exterior of the dome. The perimeter was teeming with guards, all poised to shoot any faction D members who wished to come back in from the poisoned outsides.

Hoseok had a higher rank than all the guards stationed outside, so they wouldn’t question him. Even so, he let his hand rest over his holder.

They moved quickly and rapidly, Hoseok’s gaze set on the nearing barrier. 

Nonetheless, there was never anything that went right for them unless it was followed with a catastrophe soon after. The sirens from the base began to blare deafeningly loud, piercing through the tranquil streets and setting them ablaze with noise. 

The sound permeated and rang in the air, creating ringing in their ears as they winced at the sound that threatened to shatter their skulls.

Red lights began to shine, triggered by the powerful batteries that were rarely ever used unless there was an emergency. Every inch of the roads was bathed in a deep crimson, scouring the streets. 

They must have found out she escaped. There was no other explanation.

“Shit,” Taeil cursed lowly, adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed, “Hyung?”

Hoseok had to think quickly on his feet despite being jittery with nerves. Blocking out the noise, he looked around and spotted a back alley they could go through. “Come, we need to run.”

Immediately, they ran after him. Feet connected with the ground with incredible force, the trio rocketing through the alley’s behind him. Their breathing was sharp, trying to take in as much air as they could while the sirens followed their every movement. 

Soon enough, the sound of gunshots joined the racket. Bullets rained through the air like deadly droplets of water, missing them by inches as their ran for their lives. Everything they were working for was within 30 meters, the escape so close they could feel the breeze on their skin. 

The world seemed incredibly loud and jarring, feet beginning to ache from the sheer speed they were using. Hoseok was faster than them both as he was fitter, his hands fumbling for their as he ran. 

Ammunition whizzed by, some dangerously close to hitting him. He managed to dodge them all, however, she wasn’t doing lucky. 

Blood trickled down her waist, a bullet embedded within her side as she doubled over. Searing pain ran through her body and overloaded her senses - vision blurring instantly as she cried out. 

Hoseok cursed loudly, the blood coating her fingers as she clutched at the wound, her life spilling through her fingers. The guards from both sides were approaching, Taeil’s face pale from adrenaline and worry. 

This couldn’t be the end. Hoseok wouldn’t let it be. 

Scooping her up into his arms, he began to run again, handing Taeil his identification card that would let them pass through the towering steel gate that stood between them and freedom. 

The gun felt foreign between his fingers as he plucked it from the holder, aiming blindly for anyone in his way. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, but he wasn’t being given a choice. All he could do was hope no one was hurt too badly. 

The guards from around the border began to close in on them, surrounding them quickly, though focusing more on Hoseok than Taeil who slipped by them quickly. The card was swiped and the gate opened, Taeil running through before it began to close again - a precautionary measure he loathed. 

Her fingers held tightly onto the front of his shirt, curling in against him - reminded of how he was responsible for both of their lives. Adrenaline fuelled his actions, shooting at whoever came too close until a path was cleared. 

The gate was closing, halfway down as it shut rapidly. 5 more metres.

Wind stung his eyes, all too aware of the blood covering her shirt and cloak now. Once they were out of the gate, they would have two hours to get far away before it could open again. 

3 more meters. Taeil’s cloak was visible, the bag on his shoulders barely weighing him down. 

2 more. Hoseok ran faster, determination blocking out anything that could have hindered him - not even the shouts for him to stop reached his ears. 

1 mo-

He was jerked backwards, nearly stumbling over his feet. A hand had managed to grab hold of her arm, holding onto her securely as she tried to shake it off. His gun cocked, aiming to shoot at their hand before the sickening realisation came that it was empty. Dread washed over him, the gate continuing to close.

She looked up, staring at the hand before her fingers curled around something. Within a split second, she had slammed her hand down and the syringe was lodged into their flesh, their scream of pain coupled with their instinct jerk meant he was free again. 

And, within those few seconds of freedom, Hoseok had bolted through the gap in the gate, rolling through under it milliseconds before it slammed shut, shaking the earth beneath them.

His heart was loud, holding her tightly to him as he gasped for air. 

“Hyung!” Taeil rushed towards them, pulling out bandage and saline solution. “We need to get it dressed.”

He nodded, sitting up, only no fully able to see the wince on her face. Whispering an apology, he lifted up her shirt and let Taeil clean around the wound. They opted for not taking out the bullet, deciding if would hurt her more to do so. Instead, they cleaned the wound and wrapped it tightly with bandages that were quickly spotted with blood. 

“How do you feel, baby?” Hoseok questioned, knowing they had to move quickly before the two hour countdown was finished. 

“I-it hurts,” She wheezed, barely caring when Taeil cleaned her stained hands with a damp cloth. “I’m going to drag you down.”

“No you won’t,” Taeil shut her down, opening her mouth gently and placing a painkiller on her tongue along with a little bit of water, urging her to swallow and kissing her forehead when she did. “We just need to get to somewhere safe and you can heal properly. We can all heal properly.”

Hoseok stood up again, pulling her back into his hold as he cradled her. “Let’s get going then. We have two hours before the gate opens again.”

They began walking again, the horizon stretching for miles in front. And yet somehow, the distance didn’t seem so large.

Not when they had people they loved at their side.

* * *

It took four hours of non-stop walking before they finally reached something similar to a village, the sun beginning to set over the horizon. Brilliant and vibrant shades of gold and pink decorated the sky, the scene so awe inspiring that they had to pause and stare for a couple of moments. 

“I’ve never been able to see the sunset properly,” She spoke, holding Taeil’s hand despite their insistence that she should stay in Hoseok’s arms. “It’s so beautiful.”

“It really is,” Hoseok gawked, staring up at the galaxies above that twinkled and morphed into different colours, the infinite shades of purple and rose blending together like the paintings his mother had spoken so fondly about. “But we should go inside, it gets cold during the nights. There’s some houses here.”

They had never seen such cosy looking places before. These building were built with beauty in mind, clearly once belonging to the wealthy. The architecture was unlike anything they had ever seen before, the plants thriving without the interference of humans. Vines wound up the sides of the house, undisturbed for many years and making it slightly difficult to get to the front door. 

Then again, no job was ever too big for Hoseok, opening up the door with brute strength and telling them to come. 

The inside was just as beautiful as the outside, the front room filled with stunning furniture that seemed too good to be true. Even after so many years, they still looked comfortable. “Holy shit,” she whispered, murmurs of agreement following her amazement. “I can’t believe this is just here.”

The front door closed behind them, Taeil’s mouth stretching into an exhausted yawn, only interrupted by the grumbling of his stomach. “Is there any food?”

“There’s some canned food here,” Hoseok remerged from what they assumed was that kitchen, holding tins of fruit and sardines. “I found rice too, maybe we can boil it tomorrow.”

They sat around the coffee table, the plush rug between their toes feeling like heaven and Hoseok placed chopsticks in front of them and opened up the tins. Their hunger knew no bounds, the food tasting like the world’s finest cuisine for their palate knew nothing other than the tasteless gruel. 

Slices of peach were fed to each other, hums of contentness and relief following it. Bits of pineapple, mango and even apricot were eaten, filling their stomachs until nothing aside from syrup and salty water was left. 

“Does that shower work?” Hoseok asked, helping her up the stairs towards the bedrooms while Taeil jogged up towards the bathroom, the sound of the shower starting up just moments later. 

“It does!” Came the reply filled with glee, “it’s just cold, but clean. I think it must be a water reserve or something.”

"That’s good enough, right, baby?“ He brushed his fingers across her cheek, his heart swelling as she leant into the touch. "We’ll just get cleaned up and we can sleep.”

“That sounds nice,” She mumbled “can we shower together?" 

A little surprised at the request, he took a moment to process it before nodding excitedly, telling Taeil about it as soon as he appeared from the bathroom.

It didn’t take long for them to strip down, the bathroom large enough to fit them all comfortable under the shower stream. The bandages still covered her skin, her stubbornness not allowing them to tell her off for being so reckless after being injured. 

Cold water ran down their bodies, goosebumps rising on their skin - yet barely noticed while they giggled like children. Soap made their bodies slick, the delicate scent of lavender and vanilla filling the room while hands wandered, lips pressing messily against wet and slippery skin. Blood washed away from her skin, turning into a pale pink as it poured down the drain, finger prints replacing the deep red colour. 

"Let me wash your hair,” They were putting in her hands, letting her place shampoo in their hair and massage their scalps. Nails scratched against their heads, suds lathering brown and black locks. Her hands worked gently, easing away stress from their bodies with her nimble work. 

Lightly running her nails through Taeil’s scalp, making sure to take her time and play with his hair - even making little spikes that had them all giggling. To return the favour, they both let their hands roam across her back, kneading away the knots in between her shoulder blades and kneading the tension from her from her spine. Taeil was also sneaky, his hands moving to her front and resting just on her ribcage.

They stayed there until their fingers were pruney, bodies urging them to come out and get dressed again. It was difficult to get out but they did eventually, smelling like a field in spring with the subtle aromas covering them. 

“This one is the biggest bedroom,” Taeil announced, pushing open the door to reveal the lavish bedroom that put everything at the base to shame. Gold and black accented the cream walls, a desk, ink black loveseat and ridiculously large, fitted wardrobe occupying some of the room. However, the centre piece had to be the super king size bed in the middle of the room, the pillows and covers made already - untouched by anyone. 

Gasps of awe as the general reply, the trio climbing into the bed with her right in the middle. Their aching bodies felt so much better against the plush material of the mattress and duvet, the pain drawn out from deep within their bones and discarded with every breath they took. 

A hush fell over them all, the events that had happened feeling like nothing more than a far away dream - a mere figment of their imaginations. 

She shuffled, somehow still wide awake despite the exhaustion that made her eyelids heavy. She shifted again, bandages rubbing against her skin and she sighed, the sound making both of them look at her. 

"Is something wrong, angel?" Taeil asked, arm placing itself across her stomach as he traced patterns and stars onto her skin. "You can't sleep?"

"No. I'm so tired but I just can't fall asleep."

Hoseok nodded understandingly, turning on his side and reaching around her too, pulling them both close as their breaths mingled and turned to one. "It's okay. I can't sleep either."

Taeil shifted himself up onto his elbow, the last remaining rays of lights filtering through the window and making him glow, his angelic features only enhanced. He didn't say a word as he leant closer to her, lips brushing against her nose and cheeks, before they pressed to her own lips.. Sitting up, he held her face within his hands, kissing her with more force and desperation, wishing to show her everything he wasn't able to. 

She responded back eagerly, arms reaching to loop around his neck only to be grabbed by Hoseok, fingers lacing with them as pecks of adoration were placed along her arm. 

Taeil hummed, moving to shuffle further up the bed so he was half resting against the headboard, letting his arm wrap around hers and lacing their fingers together. 

"What do you think will happen now?" The uncertainty of the answer hung over their heads, a silence following his question. 

"I… Don't know," she said, moving their joined hands to her lips, kissing it softly, "but does it matter? As long as we're here together, I couldn't care less."

"I agree. The homes here are beautiful and I'm sure there must be more resources within walking distance. It'll be okay."

Smiling a little, she nodded. "Yeah. We can do anything now, it's not as though the base can come and find us."

"I want to explore around here. I've only ever heard stories of the world outside the bases," Taeil whispered, gaze cast towards the ceiling and towards images of grandeour and discovery. He had clearly always been very curious. "Isn't there a desk beside you, hyung? Maybe there's something interesting inside.

Making a noise of affirmation, Hoseok reached over to open up the drawer, nothing much within it apart from a few paper clips and dust. However, as he pulled it open further, something rolled and a simple white pen rolled to the forefront - Hoseok grabbing it excitedly.

"I found something in the desk," Hoseok muttered, undoing the pen and discarding the small parts to pull out the ink, "you can put this in yours!"

It was taken from his hands with trembling ones, clutched in Taeil's fist as though it would disappear from their reality if he didn't hold onto it. "Thank you, hyung…" 

Watching Taeil marvel at the small tube of ink made his heart ache, his world view narrowing so it only encompassed them all. 

His saliva was thick in his throat as the emotions he had shoved deep within him began to surface. 

Before he realised it, or could even attempt to stop it, he was crying and uncontrollably so. Tears covered his cheeks, the bright simper on his lips directly contrasting it. They didn't need to ask him what was wrong, Taeil clearly wiping at his own eyes also. 

"I'm so happy I found you both," he spoke softly, the air delicate and liable to shatter at any moment. "I can't express in words how much- how much I love you." 

His voice cracked and he couldn't have cared less, gently running his thumb across her cheek, love tinting his world a gentle rose pink. 

'It's okay.' They had both cooed, rubbing his arm as he sniffled, a little embarrassed but wholeheardly honest. He could never lie to them and they knew that. 'We love you, too.'

Before long, tiredness began to tug at their bones again, muscles begging for them to succumb to sleep. This time, they really were ready to fall head first into the throes of unconsciousness. 

She inhaled, the movement of air clearly heard. "I love you. I love you both."

Their hold became tighter, firmer. "We love you too."

* * *

When they woke up in the middle of noon the next day, it was to the sun coming through the curtain and bathing the room in light and warmth. Hoseok had already gotten up and left the bed, the door ever so slightly ajar. 

“Taeil-ah? Where’s he gone?” The man shrugged, yawning before getting up and helping her walk too. They followed the tracks, towards the end of the corridor where there was an open room, a shadow within it.

“Hyung?” Taeil called, “is that you?”

“Yes. Come here and look at this,” they followed the voice, walking into the room and seeing him stare at the wall. However, the wall as not blank. A huge map the size of the room covered it all, string pinned on to different areas and connecting to others. “What does this look like?”

She stared at the map, reading the location where many of the strings came together. “Seoul? That’s where my grand and great grandmother used to stay before the solar flares. I’m not sure what it could mean though. Maybe it was the groups that formed? Or locations of other bases?”

Taeil opened one of the bedside drawers while she was talking, finding a walkie talkie within it and turning it upside down with a look of confusion. “A walking talkie? What’s this doing here? It shouldn’t even work.”

“Hit it and try it,” he did as she asked, smacking it hard before gasping as it crackled to life, “oh fuck. Speak through it, Taeil-ah.”

They held their breaths while Taeil gasped, speaking shakily into the receiver. “Hello? Is anyone there?" 

There was no response. 

"Try again. Say 'incoming’ and 'over’.”

“Incoming, I want to know if anyone is here, over,” they were expecting nothing to happen, for it to be a fluke, and yet, they couldn’t stifle their shock as a voice came through. 

It was low and smooth, unlike the voice of anyone they had heard before. Baritone yet pleasing to listen to. 

“Hello, there is someone here. Heonie speaking, over.”

“Oh my god,” Taeil spoke, barely containing his shock, “um uh, this is Taeil. Can I ask what you are? There’s a map with string pointing towards Seoul. O-over.”

“Seoul? That’s where the immune space is. Me and TY are the leaders of this space, Over.”

She took the walkie talkie from his hands, voice much more level than this. “This is (y/n). We’re immune too. I think we’re situated in a village near Daegu, over.”

“Daegu? There are no sanctuaries there. If you would like, you are welcomed into our space if you are willing to make the trip, over,” Heonie spoke and excitement buzzed in the air at the prospect of not being alone. 

“This is not a lie, is it? You’re not a base, are you? Over.”

“No. We are the third generation born from our great grandparents, therefore we’re all immune. There are 40 of us currently. We are willing to welcome 2 more. Over.”

“There’s 3 of us. Will we still be able to come? Over.”

“Yes, of course. Just state your names and we can do it. Though please don’t be offended when we check again when you reach us to make sure you are immune. Over.”

“That’s fine. Over,” they all stated their names and the conversation was quickly over once they got more details. The connection was ended and they all stared at each other for a moment before breaking put into astounded laughter. 

“I can’t believe there’s more people like us!” Taeil exclaimed, grabbing their hands tightly. “We should go. They have more resources than we do and they said they would welcome us.”

They looked at Hoseok who nodded thoughtfully before reaching up to peel off the map from the wall, folding it. “We should get going soon then. As soon as you’re healed,” he nodded towards her, “we’ll set off.”

Joy spread through them much like the virus, energy and hope high as they came together in an embrace. Limbs tangled together, giggling coming from all three as they couldn’t help but be giddy. They were going to have a life they never even dreamt of!

Her recovery only taking a few weeks before they were off, map in hand as well as each other by their sides. The promise of something beyond their own means was a thing they never thought possible, only to be proven wrong through their sheer determination. This was only the next step in their adventure through the unknown. 

And yet they knew that as long as the stars twinkled in the endless galaxies above, and the world still spun on its axis, that they would be together forevermore.


End file.
